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The answer is “graded” competition by fortune_smith

Compete against men and women, if there are any in the latter category, of approximately-equivalent ability.

This is how club track works in the UK, where I live. Runners are classified on ability. Nobody cares if they are men, women or something in-between. And all the athletes seem to respect each other.

Unfortunately, the NCAA doesn’t seem to have a construct that works at the current time, surely partly due to an inadequate number of talented transitioning athletes to create a competitive classification.

Having Lia compete against biological women doesn’t hold water and is grossly unfair: it’s insulting and a disregard to the tremendous work the biological women put into the sports they compete in. The biological women deserve every opportunity to win the laurels they compete for.

Maybe a time penalty could be an answer. In track, men’s recruiting times are something like 14-15% faster than women’s. I’m not familiar with swimming, but perhaps it’s directionally similar.