Lia Thomas Becomes 1st Out Transgender Woman to Win NCAA Swimming Title

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first out transgender woman ever to win an NCAA swimming championship on Thursday.

Thomas placed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds, over a second faster than runner-up Virginia's Emma Weyant, per Alan Blinder of The New York Times.

Thomas has been at the center of an ongoing conversation regarding sports participation by transgender girls and women competing in girls and women's divisions. Blinder noted that "a handful of demonstrators" were present at Georgia Tech's campus for the NCAA championships.

Her title-winning time Thursday was more than nine seconds slower than the NCAA record set by Katie Ledecky in 2017.

The conversation surrounding Thomas grew louder after she started dominating her competition this season. In December at the Zippy Invitational, she posted the fastest times in the nation in the women's 200- and 500-yard freestyles. She also won the 1650 freestyle by almost 40 seconds.

In February, the NCAA cleared the way for Thomas to participate in the swimming championships after announcing it would not change its eligibility policies for transgender athletes. Under its current policy, trans women athletes are required to have less than 10 nanomoles per liter of testosterone in their blood.

Thomas, who won this year’s Ivy League women’s championships in the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyles, hasn't spoken much about her situation. But she sat down Sports Illustrated's Robert Sanchez earlier this month and said, "I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone. They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love."

Thomas is set to compete in the 200 freestyle on Friday. She's the top seed entering the race, and Blinder noted that her fastest time this season has been 1:41.93. She's not far off from Missy Franklin's NCAA record of 1:39.10 set in 2015.