A teammate of Lia Thomas, a transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer, suggested Thomas intentionally lost a recent race to prove there is a level playing field.
During a Jan. 8 tri-meet with Yale and Dartmouth, Thomas finished a 100-meter freestyle race with a time of 52.84, while Yale swimmer Iszac Henig, who is transitioning from female to male, touched with a time of 49.57.
Thomas, who swam for UPenn’s men’s swimming team for three years in NCAA Division I competition, has shattered two U.S. women’s collegiate swimming records and automatically qualified for March’s NCAA championship meet in Atlanta.
“Looking at [Lia’s] time, I don’t think she was trying,” Thomas’s teammate, who was granted anonymity based on threats from university activists, told Outkick. “I know they’re friends, and I know they were talking before the meet. I think she let [Henig] win to prove the point that, ‘Oh see, a female-to-male beat me.’”
Thomas’s time was more than 3 seconds slower than her 49.42 finish during the same race in a November tri-meet with Princeton and Yale.
“I do [believe there was collusion],” the UPenn teammate reportedly alleged. “I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I found out that was 100% true.”
During the Jan. 8 meet, Thomas won the 200-meter and 500-meter races but finished sixth in the 100-meter. The teammate reportedly told Outkick Thomas appeared to be keeping pace despite winning the 200-meter race.
WATCH: PHELPS LABELS LIA THOMAS CONTROVERSY ‘VERY COMPLICATED,’ CALLS FOR ‘EVEN PLAYING FIELD’
“You can tell when someone is dying and they’re swimming slow,” the teammate added. “You can also tell when someone is not trying, and I could see [in the 200 freestyle] that Lia was not trying.”
Olympic champion Michael Phelps recently added to the debate surrounding 22-year-old Thomas’s success in women’s swimming, calling the situation “very complicated” but comparable to doping.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
UPenn’s next meet is Saturday at Harvard.
