WATCH: Lia Thomas Finishes Last Place in NCAA Championship 100-Yard Freestyle

Lia Thomas
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
Paul Bois

Lia Thomas finished last place in the NCAA championship 100-yard freestyle on Saturday after a string of victories in which the famed Penn transgender swimmer beat out Olympic silver medalists.

Thomas lost to Virginia freshman Gretchen Walsh, who reportedly set a new pool and program record by finishing first place with a time of 46.06. Alabama senior Morgan Scott came in second with a time of 46.78, followed by North Carolina State junior Katherine Berkoff with a time of 46.95.

Thomas, who set a program record last Thursday in the 500 free, came in dead last with a time of 48.18 after having entered “the finals with the fourth-fastest time,” according to Fox News.

Thomas also finished fifth place in the 200 free final on Friday, an event he was reportedly slated to win.

 

Thomas, a man living as a woman, won the Division I national title on Thursday when he defeated female Virginia freshman swimmer Emma Weyant (4:34.99) and Erica Sullivan, who won a silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. Finishing fourth was Brooke Forde, who also won a silver at the Tokyo Games in a 4×200 freestyle relay race, according to Outkick.

In January, after a string of victories put him on a path to winning the championship, Lia Thomas inexplicably lost to Yale transgender swimmer Iszac Henig at UPenn’s tri-meet with the Yale and Dartmouth swim teams. Henig is a biological woman currently transitioning to live as a man. Though she had her breasts removed, she reportedly delayed hormone treatments to compete in women’s swimming before graduation.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a teammate of Thomas claimed that the two conspired with each other as a way to hit back at anti-trans critics.

“Looking at [Lia’s] time, I don’t think she was trying,” the Penn swimmer told OutKick. “I know they’re friends, and I know they were talking before the meet. I think she let her win to prove the point that, ‘Oh see, a female-to-male beat me.’

“I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I found out that was 100% true,” the teammate added.

The teammate recalled saying to a friend during one of the races that Thomas did not appear to be trying.

“I was on deck and said to a friend, ‘She’s literally not trying.’ You could just tell,” the teammate said. “It was blatantly obvious. I was watching the 200 free, and she was literally keeping pace with the other girls.

“You can tell when someone is dying, and they’re swimming slow,” the swimmer added. “You can also tell when someone is not trying, and I could see [in the 200 freestyle] that Lia was not trying.”

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