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Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer for University of Pennsylvania, won her second Ivy League title this week with a record-setting effort.
Friday night, Thomas won the conference’s 200-meter freestyle competition with a time of 1:43.12, beating second-place Samantha Shelton by over 2.5 seconds.
Thomas’ finish set a new record at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool, besting the previous mark of 1:43.78, and comes a day after she won the Ivy League’s 500-meter freestyle. Her time of 4:37.32 in Thursday’s event was also a Blodgett Pool record.
Thomas swam for three years at Penn as a male, before transitioning to female.
Thomas has been a lightning rod throughout the swim season. While supporters have pointed out that she followed all the rules, others have said she maintains a biological advantage.
While NCAA bylaws will be in flux after the college sports governing body decided to leave scenarios like Thomas’ up to individual sports, she was permitted to compete this season as she had been undergoing testosterone suppression treatment for over a year.
Caitlyn Jenner, an Olympic gold medalist in the 1976 decathlon before transitioning in 2017, slammed Thomas in an appearance on Fox News in January.
“I’ve said from the beginning, biological boys should not be playing in women’s sports,” Jenner said. “We need to protect women’s sports.”
“[Lia Thomas] is also not good for women’s sports,” Jenner said. “It’s unfortunate that this is happening. I don’t know why she’s doing it. She knows when she’s swimming she’s beating the competition by two laps. She was born as a biological boy. She was raised as a biological boy. Her cardiovascular system is bigger. Her respiratory system is bigger.
“Her hands are bigger. She can swim faster. That’s a known. All of this is woke world that we’re living in right now is not working. I feel sorry for the other athletes that are out there, especially at Penn or anyone she’s competing against, because in the woke world you have to say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is great.’ No it’s not.”
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