Over the weekend, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer continued to break collegiate records. At Saturday’s 2021 Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, for example, the swimmer came in first place, winning by an entire seven seconds over the second-place finisher. This swimmer, Lia Thomas, was a man not long ago.
In fact, Lia competed as a male, against males, in the male swimming division for her first three years as an NCAA athlete.
[caption id="attachment_22854" align="aligncenter" width="740"]
Lia Thomas[/caption]
Saturday’s first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle resulted in setting a pool, program and meet record with a time of 1:41.93. “She won the race by nearly seven seconds and her time was the fastest in the country” the Penn sports department exclaimed in a press release.
Just the day before, she set a pool and meet record in the 500 freestyle preliminaries, then “claimed more records in the final with a time of 4:34.06, beating the second-place finisher by 14.39 seconds” reports The Washington Times. Not surprisingly, that huge win is also the best time in the country and created a new program record.
The Washington Times reports:
[caption id="attachment_22858" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Lia Thomas[/caption]
The 22-year-old Thomas swam on Penn’s men’s team from 2017-20 as Will Thomas, placing second in the Ivy League Championships in three freestyle events and making second-team All-Ivy in the 2018-19 season. Thomas also won the men’s 500 freestyle against Villanova in the 2019-20 season.
Since transitioning to female and joining the women’s team, however, Thomas has gone from being a solid college swimmer to a dominant one.
Penn Today reported in June that “Thomas took a year off during the pandemic and will swim for the Penn women’s team in her senior year.”
“Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport and being able to continue is very rewarding,” Thomas told the publication.
Lia Thomas[/caption]
Saturday’s first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle resulted in setting a pool, program and meet record with a time of 1:41.93. “She won the race by nearly seven seconds and her time was the fastest in the country” the Penn sports department exclaimed in a press release.
Just the day before, she set a pool and meet record in the 500 freestyle preliminaries, then “claimed more records in the final with a time of 4:34.06, beating the second-place finisher by 14.39 seconds” reports The Washington Times. Not surprisingly, that huge win is also the best time in the country and created a new program record.
The Washington Times reports:
[caption id="attachment_22858" align="alignleft" width="300"] Lia Thomas[/caption]
The 22-year-old Thomas swam on Penn’s men’s team from 2017-20 as Will Thomas, placing second in the Ivy League Championships in three freestyle events and making second-team All-Ivy in the 2018-19 season. Thomas also won the men’s 500 freestyle against Villanova in the 2019-20 season.
Since transitioning to female and joining the women’s team, however, Thomas has gone from being a solid college swimmer to a dominant one.
Penn Today reported in June that “Thomas took a year off during the pandemic and will swim for the Penn women’s team in her senior year.”
“Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport and being able to continue is very rewarding,” Thomas told the publication.