{"id":499937,"date":"2022-03-18T06:10:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T13:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=499937"},"modified":"2022-04-04T05:40:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T12:40:13","slug":"lia-thomas-timeline-the-road-to-a-controversial-national-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/lia-thomas-timeline-the-road-to-a-controversial-national-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Lia Thomas Timeline: The Road to a Controversial National Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lia Thomas Timeline: The Road to a Controversial National Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month in Atlanta, the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas<\/strong> captured the NCAA<\/a> title in the 500-yard freestyle, becoming the first transgender athlete to capture an individual national title in swimming. Thomas swam a time of 4:33.24 to beat runnerup\u00a0Emma Weyant<\/strong> of Virginia by almost two seconds, and Thomas will again be among the favorites in Friday’s 200 freestyle.<\/p>\n

While the attention on Thomas peaked as she has stepped into the national spotlight, her inclusion in women’s college swimming has been one of the most significant stories in college swimming since December, when she posted the fastest times in the nation in the 200 and 500 free at the Zippy Invitational. Below is a look back at all the significant developments in this story over the past four months.<\/p>\n