Transgender athlete wins NCAA swimming title

Lia Thomas on Thursday became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA swimming championship. The University of Pennsylvania senior took the lead in the final 100 yards of the 500-yard freestyle women’s event, scoring a season-best time of 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds. Thomas is also the top seed in the 200 freestyle on Friday and the 10th seed in the 100 freestyle on Saturday.

Who is Lia Thomas? Formerly known as Will, Lia Thomas originally swam on Penn’s male team but began hormone replacement therapy to transition in 2019 and later switched to the women’s team, allowable under NCAA and Ivy League rules for transgender athletes. Several protesters gathered outside the Georgia Tech facility during this week’s meet, while some in the stands raised banners that read “Save Women’s Sports.” Thomas spoke with ESPN after Thursday’s race but broke NCAA rules by opting out of the association’s official news conference.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s Relations report on sports officials’ waffling over policies for transgender athletes.