Iszak Henig, a transgender male, joined Yale’s men’s swimming team after finishing as an All-American female swimmer the previous year.
Henig has been taking hormones for eight months as he transitions, but his times are “about the same as they were at the end of last season,” he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times on Thursday.
Henig wrote that he finished 79th out of 83 swimmers in a meet in November.
“I wasn’t the slowest guy in any of my events, but I wasn’t as successful as I was on the women’s team,” Henig wrote.
According to OutKick, the four people who finished behind Henig were a swimmer born without a left arm and three others who specialize in the breaststroke.
Henig had previously finished 10th out of 11 in the 200-yard freestyle and 11th out of 12 in the 100-yard freestyle in a meet against Columbia. His 400-yard freestyle relay team finished fifth out of five, and his swim time was the slowest of any swimmer in the race.
Henig’s goal, however, isn’t necessarily to win as a man.