Lia Thomas Qualifies for 500-Yard Freestyle Final at NCAA Swimming Championships

The Penn swimmer finished with a time of 4:33.82 on Thursday morning.

Penn swimmer Lia Thomas placed first in the 500-yard freestyle qualifiers on Thursday morning at the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships.

The final for the 500 freestyle event will take place on Thursday night.

Thomas, who is transgender, posted a season-best time, completing the qualifier in four minutes, 33.82 seconds. Her previous season high came in December when she completed the event in four minutes, 34.06 seconds. This previous mark was the best time in the NCAA during the regular season.

Thomas will be competing in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle races this week. She previously won the title in all three events at the Ivy League championships. 

If Thomas wins any of the events this week, she will become the first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national title, in any sport. 

The championships are being held at Georgia Tech this week. Thomas’s Thursday morning race brought in a small group of protesters to the McAuley Aquatic Center. The group is called “Save Women’s Sports,” though they represented a small portion of the crowd in Atlanta.