This year’s Berlin Swimming World Cup will feature an event unseen in the history of international swimming: An open category for transgender swimmers.
The event represents the culmination of World Aquatics’ efforts to accommodate transgender competitors without allowing them to compete according to gender identity. The swimming governing body announced the creation of such a category last year. It made it official on Wednesday that the new category would be open for the Berlin Swimming World Cup from October 6-8.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas accepts the winning trophy for the 500 Freestyle finals during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17th, 2022, at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“When World Aquatics instituted its Policy on Eligibility for the Men’s and Women’s Competition Categories, we committed to exploring the creation of an open category,” said World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam.
“True to our word, a team of experts has diligently worked to make this a reality. I would like to thank all those who have helped World Aquatics to deliver this opportunity.”
Regarding the specifics, open category swimmers can compete in all strokes at distances of 50 and 100 meters. The open category will be open for two days.
The movement to an open category stems from the controversy surrounding the emergence of Lia Thomas. An American man who decided to identify as a woman after an exceedingly mediocre sting competing against fellow men. Shortly after joining the women’s category, something the NCAA did nothing to stop him from doing, Thomas went on a tear, defeating Olympic-level female swimmers and breaking records, culminating in a 2022 NCAA Swimming Championship.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas accepts the winning trophy for the 500 Freestyle finals as second place finisher Emma Weyant and third place finisher Erica Sullivan watch during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17th, 2022, at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Under the new rules laid out by World Aquatics, Thomas would be ineligible to compete.