World Aquatics bans trans swimmer who won 5 US Masters Championships this year

In April Hannah Caldas, a 48-year-old trans woman from California and longtime competitive masters swimmer, won five events at the U.S. Masters Swimming National Championships in April. Because of World Aquatics’ three-year-old-ban on trans women in women’s swimming, she has decided to leave the sport.

World Aquatics announced last week that Caldas would be banned from World Masters competition for the next five years, and any of her World Masters results between June 19, 2022 and October 17, 2024 would be removed.

World Aquatics said Caldas violated four articles of the World Aquatics Integrity Code, two sections of their eligibility guidelines for men and women, and due to non-compliance terms of the governing body’s 2022 ban against trans women in women’s competition.

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It is widely assumed that such policy applied to elite-level competition, but this ruling confirms it extends to sub-elite competitions under World Aquatics jurisdiction as well.

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Hannah Caldas refused a chromosome test

According to a statement on behalf of Caldas put out by New York Aquatics last week, the sanction against Caldas came down to a central sticking point. World Aquatics required her to undergo a chromosomal test prior to World Aquatics Masters in 2024 in Doha, Qatar, where she won the 100-meter freestyle. Caldas had provided a birth certificate and was eligible by the trans athlete standards of U.S. Masters Swimming.

In the statement, Caldas refused the test on the grounds that she would have to pay for it.

“Chromosomal tests are invasive and expensive procedures,” Caldas said in the statement. “My insurance refuses to cover such a test because it is not medically necessary. No U.S. state requires genetic tests for recreational sports events like these. Not even U.S. Masters Swimming, the national governing body for recreational adult swimming in the U.S., demands this for any of its events.”

USMS has been the potential target of legal action and legislative action by Republican politicians in Texas, the site of the national championships meet earlier this year. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a transphobic politician who is eyeing a U.S. Senate run next year, launched an investigation against USMS.

Despite being cleared to compete domestically, Caldas also used her statement to say she would step away from the sport out of principle.

“I understand and accept the consequences of not complying with a World Aquatics investigation,” she continued. “But if a five-year suspension is the price I must pay to protect my most intimate medical information, then it’s a price I am happy to pay for myself and for every other woman who does not want to submit to highly invasive medical testing just to swim in an older-adult competition.

“I have been swimming in sanctioned events for over 30 years, and I am prepared to let it all go. My life and privacy have been invaded enough. It is time to prioritize my health and personal safety.”

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