Starting September 1st, World Athletics will require female athletes competing in world ranking events, including the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (September 13-21), to undergo a one-time gene test.
The test screens for the SRY gene on the Y chromosome. A negative result allows competition in the female category, while a positive result restricts athletes to non-world ranking female events or other categories.
World Athletics President Lord Coe emphasized the move is crucial for ensuring fairness, stating, “At elite level, for you to compete in the female category you have to be biologically female.” He added that “gender cannot trump biology.”
This new regulation follows earlier decisions by World Athletics to tighten eligibility for transgender and Differences of Sex Development (DSD) athletes, including a ban on transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty from competing in the female category.
The policy aims to address concerns that testosterone suppression only “partly mitigate[s] the overall male advantage.”
