Atlanta, Ga. — As expected, Lia Thomas finished first in the 500-yard freestyle prelims this morning at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Thomas set a new record, coming in at 4:33.82 and beating Olympic swimmer Brooke Forde of Stanford. (Forde came in second place at 4:38.19.)
Both inside and outside the McAuley Aquatic Center, transgender and women’s-rights activists went head-to-head.
While Thomas was racing ahead, I witnessed an altercation between Kellie Jay Keen-Minshull, a women’s-rights activist from England, and Schuyler Bailar, a Harvard alumnus and the first transgender-identifying (biologically female) NCAA Division I swimmer to compete on any men’s team.
“I’m not a vet but I know what a dog is.”
A clash of views as Lis Thomas races ahead at the NCAA 500 freestyle prelims. pic.twitter.com/X9J5yzmozd
— Madeleine Kearns (@madeleinekearns) March 17, 2022
As Thomas …
