Transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male who has been competing against women, added two more wins on Saturday.
Thomas won the 100 free with a time of 50.55 and the 200 free with a time of 1:47.08, according to Penn Athletics. According to Fox News, the second-place finisher in the 100m race had a time of 51.51, and in the 200m contest the runner up finished with a time of 1:48.44
Thomas has been making waves winning women’s swimming competitions as cultural debate rages over the issue of allowing biological men compete in athletic events designated for women.
The controversial swimmer smoked the second-place finisher in a 1650 free last month, winning that race by more than 38 seconds, a victory that provided an especially stark example of why many people contend that the situation is unfair.
Caitlyn Jenner, a biological male who came out as transgender decades after winning a gold medal in the Olympics, strongly opposes allowing biological males to compete in women’s athletics. “All of this woke world that we’re living in right now is not working,” Jenner noted during an interview on Fox News last week.
A female University of Pennsylvania swimmer told the Washington Examiner that Thomas has drawn a personal parallel to legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first African American in the 20th century to participate in the sport in the major leagues.
“She compares herself to Jackie Robinson,” the female swimmer said of Thomas. “She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports.”