Transgender swimmers went head-to-head at a meet in the US. The male who says he is female won races but lost to a female who says she is male.

University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle and finished in fifth place in the 100-yard freestyle during the school’s tri-meet with Yale and Dartmouth.

Thomas finished about two seconds ahead of her opponents with a time of 1:48.73 in the 200 freestyle. She missed out on setting an NCAA record held by Olympian Missy Franklin, who finished the event in 1:39.10 in 2015. Thomas wasn’t as dominant as she was at the Zippy Invitational at Akron last month.

The male swimmer met his match in the 100m freestyle. He lost to Iszac Henig, a female who denies biological reality to claim she is male, yet to her own advantage remains competing as a female.

“I wasn’t prepared for that. Everything is messed up. I can’t wrap my head around this. The NCAA needs to do something about this. They need to put science into the decision and discussion,” one Penn parent told The Daily Mail.

Henig, a female swimmer, had her breasts removed but claims to be holding off on the testosterone because she can still win races as a female that way.

“As a student-athlete, coming out as a trans guy put me in a weird position. I could start hormones to align more with myself, or wait, transition socially and keep competing on a women's swim team. I decided on the latter,” Henig wrote.

“I value my contributions to the team and recognize that my boyhood doesn’t hinge on whether there’s more or less testosterone running through my veins. At least, that’s what I'll try to remember when I put on the women’s swimsuit for the competition and am reminded of a self I no longer feel attached to.”

Binary spokeswoman, Kirralie Smith, said the situation was farcical.

“This pandering to a political ideology makes a mockery of the women’s category and renders the term ‘woman’ to be meaningless,” she said.

“Where is the science? Either you are female or you aren’t. Feelings are irrelevant.

“Women’s sport is for female bodies regardless of the costumes, drugs or surgeries an athlete takes advantage of. Trans propaganda has no valid place in the pool or on the playing field.”