Transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas dominates 200 yard freestyle at Ivy League swimming championships and sets a new tournament record
- Thomas set a meet record in the 200-yard freestyle race with 1:43.12 on Friday night
- Second-place Samantha Shelton of Harvard came in at 1:45.82
- It’s the second Ivy League Championship win for Thomas over the course of the week
- The four-day swim meet kicked off on Thursday, and Thomas has consistently scored top spots with her fast swims
- Thomas swam for the University of Pennsylvania 's men's team as recently as 2019 when she began medically transitioning to a woman
- USA Swimming Friday updated their rules to say that competitors in women's events must have recorded low levels of testosterone for 36 months
- Thomas, 22, began transitioning from male to female in May 2019, and so would appear to have only 32 months
- But officials clarified that the rule change would not come into effect until next season
University of Pennsylvania transgender athlete Lia Thomas continued her strong showing at the Ivy League Championships, setting more swimming records while claiming her second title in two days.
Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle final Friday with both a pool- and meet-record time of 1 minute, 43.12 seconds, eclipsing the marks set by Harvard's Miki Dahlke in 2018 (1:45.00) and 2020 (1:43.78).
Thomas entered the championship with the top time in the nation this year in the 200 freestyle (1:41.93).
Thomas is a transgender woman and former male swimmer for the Quakers, and has followed NCAA and Ivy League rules since she began her transition in 2019 by starting hormone replacement therapy.
Friday's victory was closer in margin than her win Thursday in the 500-yard freestyle, which she won by a half a pool length ahead of her competitors and set a pool record with a time of 4:37.32. It also sets her up to remain unbeaten in individual competition this week.
Scroll down for video
![Lia Thomas poses for pictures as a 2022 champion at the Ivy League conference title meets](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/03/54385899-10529397-Lia_Thomas_poses_for_pictures_as_a_2022_champion_at_the_Ivy_Leag-a-9_1645243098606.jpg)
Lia Thomas poses for pictures as a 2022 champion at the Ivy League conference title meets
![Swimmer Lia Thomas of Penn, on her way to setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition at the Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at Harvard](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/00/54382803-10529397-image-a-8_1645231568590.jpg)
Swimmer Lia Thomas of Penn, on her way to setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition at the Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at Harvard
![Lia Thomas comes in first place in the 200 yard freestyle during finals at the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship in Boston](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/20/01/54385885-10529397-Lia_Thomas_comes_in_first_place_in_the_200_yard_freestyle_during-a-38_1645320938395.jpg)
Lia Thomas comes in first place in the 200 yard freestyle during finals at the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship in Boston
![Thomas dives in for warmup before setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/00/54382789-10529397-image-a-10_1645231620602.jpg)
Thomas dives in for warmup before setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition
![Thomas of Penn, standing, center chears on teammates before setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition at the Women's Swimming & Diving Championship](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/14/17/54382797-10529397-Thomas_of_Penn_standing_center_chears_on_teammates_before_settin-a-3_1649952955019.jpg)
Thomas of Penn, standing, center chears on teammates before setting a pool record for the 200 yard freestyle competition at the Women's Swimming & Diving Championship
![University of Pennsylvania swimmers do a team chant before the finals during the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship in Boston](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54385851-10529397-University_of_Pennsylvania_swimmers_do_a_team_chant_before_the_f-a-5_1645247952025.jpg)
University of Pennsylvania swimmers do a team chant before the finals during the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship in Boston
![Lia Thomas celebrates finishing first in the 200 yard freestyle during finals at the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/03/54385903-10529397-Lia_Thomas_celebrates_finishing_first_in_the_200_yard_freestyle_-a-12_1645243147666.jpg)
Lia Thomas celebrates finishing first in the 200 yard freestyle during finals at the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championship
USA Swimming on Friday updated their rules to say that competitors in women's events must have recorded low levels of testosterone for 36 months.
Thomas, 22, began transitioning from male to female in May 2019, and so would appear to have only 32 months.
But officials clarified that the rule change would not come into effect until next season.
'The recent rule changes do not impact Lia's eligibility for this month's Ivy League Women's Swimming & Diving Championships as the effective date for this unprecedented midseason NCAA policy change begins with the 2022 NCAA Winter Championships,' an Ivy League spokesperson told Swimming World.
The debate over whether male-to-female transgender athletes should be allowed to compete unrestricted against biological females has proven extremely divisive.
Some have argued that transgender athletes who identify as female should be permitted to compete as women, contending that to exclude trans athletes from high-level competition is tantamount to transphobia.
![Thomas has won two events so far during the Ivy League Championships](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/14/17/54385913-10529397-Thomas_has_won_two_events_so_far_during_the_Ivy_League_Champions-a-4_1649952955040.jpg)
Thomas has won two events so far during the Ivy League Championships
![Thomas listens to music on headphones before the finals](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54385947-10529397-Thomas_listens_to_music_on_headphones_before_the_finals-a-6_1645247952027.jpg)
Thomas listens to music on headphones before the finals
![Thomas has created controversy for her efforts](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54385943-10529397-Thomas_has_created_controversy_for_her_efforts-a-7_1645247952028.jpg)
Thomas has created controversy for her efforts
Others however have pointed out that transgender male-to-female athletes, particularly those who experienced puberty as a male and lived several years as an adult before transitioning, have myriad physical advantages over biological female competitors which no amount of training and dedication could ever overcome.
Many took to social media Friday to express how unfair they felt Thomas' inclusion was.
One Twitter user wrote: 'How pathetic she thinks this is winning. And how pathetic for the NCAA to allow it. It's truly sickening.'
Another added: 'Surely Lia Thomas remembers the feeling of defeat, the feeling that one could never win against the males. To then do the same thing to the teammates dooming them to loss. Lia had the benefits puberty caused in a way the others will never achieve no matter how hard they train.'
Others were supportive, with one Twitter user writing: 'I'm a man who's been swimming since I was 5 - but I couldn't have beaten any of these women. Lia Thomas is awesome.'
Another wrote: 'For all the outrage it's generating, it sure seems to be bringing in an audience. Same people who always joke about nobody watching the WNBA SEEM TO BE VERY TUNED IN TO LIA THOMAS.'
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54387217-10529397-image-a-33_1645249125688.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54387219-10529397-image-a-34_1645249132198.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/20/01/54387249-10529397-image-a-41_1645320938419.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/19/05/54387255-10529397-image-a-37_1645249170671.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/20/01/54387265-10529397-image-a-39_1645320938397.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/20/01/54387273-10529397-image-a-40_1645320938411.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/14/17/54387269-10529397-image-a-2_1649952949258.jpg)
Though some contest that transgender athletes can take exogenous hormones to reduce their testosterone to levels equal to biological females, a range of studies have found that trans competitors by and large permanently retain a great deal of their physical advantages.
One study, by the Macdonald–Laurier Institute, a Canadian think tank, argued 'there is neither a medical intervention nor a clever philosophical argument that can make it fair for trans women to compete in women's sport.
'For trans women who have successfully suppressed testosterone for 12 months, the extent of muscle/strength loss is only an approximately (and modest) -5% after 12 months,' the authors of the study wrote.
'Testosterone suppression does not remove the athletic advantage acquired under high testosterone conditions at puberty, while the male musculoskeletal advantage is retained.'
The view is echoed by Joanna Harper, who herself is a transgender competitive runner and medical physicist at Loughborough University in the UK.
'There's 'absolutely no question trans women will maintain strength advantages over cisgender women, or non-transgender women, even after testosterone suppression.
'That's based on my clinical experience, rather than published data, but I would say there's zero doubt in my mind,' she told WebMD.
In November, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) published its own guidelines for sports regarding transgender rules in sports, but dodged specifics.
Instead, it calls on each sport to implement its own guidelines on what constitutes an unfair advantage.
No athlete should be excluded from competing based on an 'unverified, alleged or perceived unfair competitive advantage due to their sex variations, physical appearance and/or transgender status,' the International Olympic Committee said.
'Athletes should be allowed to compete but unfair advantage needs to be regulated.'
Thomas could either compete in the 100 freestyle Saturday against Yale transgender swimmer Iszac Henig, the event´s top qualifier, or the 1,650 freestyle in which Thomas in ranked No. 1.
Henig is swimming for Yale´s women´s team while transitioning to male and beat Thomas in the 100 freestyle at a meet last month. Thomas finished sixth.
Henig took Thursday´s 50 freestyle final in a pool-record time of 21.93 and entered this week´s championship as the fifth-fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle.
Most watched News videos
- Barcelona Police skits reveal tricks employed by pickpockets
- Dead nanny seen dancing with alleged female 'pimp' in TikTok video
- Discover the eerie modern ruins of an abandoned Scottish Seminary
- Police confirm tragic deaths of Notting Hill attack victims
- Armed police respond as 'man fires arrow into street using longbow'
- Norwegian Princess Martha Louise and 'Shaman' groom Durek kiss
- 'We are dying, can you help us please?' Migrant's desperate 999 call
- Moment 'film explosion' near the O2 sparks panic as huge fire seen
- Boris Johnson: Starmer looks at world through sleaze-tainted specs
- Moment Chinese and Philippine vessels collide in the South China Sea
- Gang notorious for robberies in luxury Ibiza villa are arrested
- Police outside Surrey home where man and children were found dead