World Athletics introduces gene testing for athletes wanting to compete in female events

World Athletics has announced that it is to mandate gene tests for athletes wishing to compete in the female category.

Approved by the World Athletics Council, the new regulations, which come into effect on 1st September, will be applied to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 that begins on the 13th of next month.

The move will see athletes wanting to compete in the female category for world-ranking competitions such as the World Championships only being eligible if they clear a once-in-a-lifetime gene test for the SRY gene – described as “a reliable proxy for determining biological sex”.

This is to be conducted via a cheek swab or blood test, whichever is more convenient.

The testing protocol will be overseen by Member Federations as they prepare their athletes and teams for the Championships in Tokyo.

Commenting on the new regulations and SRY test, World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe stated “the philosophy that we hold dear in World Athletics is the protection and the promotion of the integrity of women's sport.

“It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling. The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case.

“We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology.

“We particularly want to thank our member federations for their support and commitment in the implementation of these new regulations.”

The new regulations follow recommendations from the Gender Diverse Athlete Working Group approved by World Athletics Council in March 2025. The Working Group spent over a year studying developments in law, science, sports and society concerning gender-diverse athletes.

World Athletics currently bans transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events, while it requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to lower them in order to be eligible.

This month, the European Court upheld a 2023 ruling that double 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s appeal to a Swiss Federal Tribunal against regulations that barred her from competing had not been properly heard. Semenya was appealing against World Athletics.