Trans swimmer Lia Thomas wins 500-yard freestyle in Ivy League Championship

The University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas set a pool record as she won the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the Ivy League Championships at Harvard University on Thursday.

Thomas, who transitioned from male to female, swam the race in 4:34.32 – three seconds off her personal record for the 500-yard. The Philadelphia Inquirer noted Thomas’s competitors kept it close until roughly the halfway mark, when she shot ahead into a sizeable lead.

An ESPN analyst noted how little Thomas’s legs were used in the race, likely because the trans swimmer used the upper body strength developed while male, reported OutKick.

The Penn swimmer’s record-breaking success this season has sparked discussion over whether transgender athletes, especially trans-women who matured as biological males, should be allowed to compete against biological women.

Her detractors include some of her teammates and their parents, who complain she had a physiological advantage growing up male. They have tended to voice their positions anonymously, fearing retribution from their peers.

The NCAA announced that it would begin requiring trans athletes to document their testosterone levels but did not yet set a limit as other sports organizations had, allowing Thomas to swim in the championships.

But Thomas was not the only trans swimmer at the event. Iszac Henig, a Yale swimmer transitioning from female to male, was also competing as a woman. The two were neck-to-neck in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday, delivering the fastest heat times in the race. Neither won the relay, with Harvard taking first place.

Henig won the 50-yard womens freestyle on Thursday, setting a pool and personal record with a time of 21.83 seconds.