Piers Morgan has compared transgender athlete Lia Thomas to a drugs cheat after the swimmer dominated a recent meet in the US..
At an NCAA college event in Boston, Thomas won her 100m race in 50.55 seconds, a second clear of the runner-up, and in the longer format clocked 1:47.08 with the next best finisher timed at 1:48.44.
Thomas was on the UPenn men's team during her first three years, but she is now competing on the women's team after undergoing the transition from male to female. She was required to undergo hormone therapy for 12 months before being allowed to compete as a woman.
The development hasn't gone down well with outspoken TV presenter Morgan, who in his latest column for the New York Times, compared Thomas' advantage to that of a serial doper.
"Thomas, 22, was a mediocre performer when she competed as a man, but is now a record-breaking phenomenon competing as a woman, winning some races by several whole laps of a pool," he wrote.
"Yet this demonstrably scandalous situation is being allowed to continue because most people are simply too scared of the cancel-culture woke warriors to put their heads over the parapet and say: 'STOP THIS INSANITY!'"
Referencing the recent comments of Olympic legend Michael Phelps, who told CNN he could associate with an unfair playing field due to the doping that went on during his era, Morgan added: "It was obvious what Phelps really thinks.
"The competitive advantage that trans swimmers like Lia Thomas have due to their biology is as unfair as cheating with performance-enhancing drugs."
However, the 56-year-old, who this month savaged the unvaccinated Novak Djokovic over his attempts to play in the Australian Open, insisted Thomas wasn't at fault for the controversy.
"That doesn’t mean she’s a cheat," Morgan continued. "I don’t blame Thomas for this situation, and she should be able to compete as a swimmer. In my view, either against biological men as she did before, or in a new category against other trans women.
"But as Phelps rightly said, three times, sport HAS to be on a level playing field and currently, in the sport he loves, it’s not."
Last month, Thomas put in an incredible display at the Zippy Invitational Event in Akron, Ohio, finishing the 1,650-yard freestyle 38 seconds ahead of the second-placed finisher.
