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A 22-year-old student from Austin, Texas, has broken two United States women’s swimming records over the weekend.

Lia Thomas, who competed in the Zippy Invitational in Ohio, broke two records in the 200m and 500m freestyles and followed her recent record-breaking performances in the same disciplines for the University of Pennsylvania.

Announcing the new records, The University of Pennsylvania boasted that Thomas had finished “best in the country” in the 500m freestyle on the event’s first day. On the second, she “delivered another record-breaking performance” with the 200m freestyle. 

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Speaking in June, Lia Thomas said that she was unsure if she could continue swimming after coming out as trans saying that swimming was a huge part of her life and who she is as a person. “I’ve been a swimmer since I was five years old,” she says.
 
“The process of coming out as being trans and continuing to swim was a lot of uncertainty and unknown around an area that’s usually really solid.”
 
“Realising I was trans threw that into question. Was I going to keep swimming? What did that look like?”
 
“Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport, and being able to continue is very rewarding,” she added.
 
Lia Thomas’ record-breaking performances follow news that ten states in the United States, including Texas and Florida, have decided to ban transgender athletes from competing in female sports at schools.
 

The decision by such states now means that students in those states will now be forced to play on sports teams that correspond to the gender assigned to them on their birth certificate. 

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