In a rare moment, Lia Thomas and Iszac Henig, two transgender swimmers, swam head-to-head in the 100-yard freestyle at the University of Pennsylvania.
that the margins of her wins were much smaller compared to her performance at the Zippy Invitational in Ohio last month.At that meet, she set at least three records and won the 1,650-yard freestyle by 38 seconds, adding fuel to an ongoing debate about whether the NCAA’s guidelines for transgender athletes are strict enough to ensure fair competition between trans women and cisgender women .
When trans male athletes do receive testosterone as part of their transition, they are no longer eligible to compete on the women’s team and may compete on the men’s.Henig came out as trans to his parents in April but decided to transition socially, a phrase that describes how some trans people change their names, pronouns and outward appearance to align more with their gender identity.
Henig has undergone a double mastectomy, also known as top surgery, but that doesn’t affect his eligibility to compete on the women’s team. Some critics of the NCAA policy, including Nancy Hogshead-Makar, chief executive of women’s sports advocacy organization Champion Women,that there might be enough trans athletes in some sports to allow for a category just for trans people.