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Explained: Which gene test is required for athletes to compete in women's events at World Athletics
Netherlands' Femke Bol, Great Britain's Nicole Yeargin and Jamaica's Stacy-Ann Williams run the anchor leg of the women's 4x400m relay at the 2023 Athletics World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Reuters
The participation of trans athletes in the women's division has been a contentious issue in sport, as has been that of female athletes with high levels of testosterone. Keeping that in mind, World Athletics has made it compulsory for track and field athletes aiming to take part in the female category in elite competitions to undergo a gene test from September.
The Monaco-based organisation intends to conduct the tests in the build-up to the Athletics World Championships that will be taking place from 13 to 21 September in Tokyo, Japan.
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'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,' said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
'The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case.'
What is the SRY gene test that female athletes will have to undergo?
But what exactly is this gene test that track and field athletes participating in women's competitions will have to undergo a month from now?
The test for the SRY gene, which is part of the Y chromosome and causes male characteristics to develop, can be done by a cheek swab or a blood test.
If the athlete tests negative for the Y chromosome they are eligible to compete in the female category in world ranking competitions.
The World Athletics Council has approved new regulations concerning eligibility conditions to compete in the female category for world ranking competitions.
The new regulations come into effect on 1 September 2025 and will be applied to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25… pic.twitter.com/BO8Lz4kfwS — World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 30, 2025
If it is positive, they can only compete in the female category in non-world ranking competitions or in another category other than the female one.
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The test will be administered by member federations.
World Athletics says the test is 'extremely accurate', adding: 'The risk of false negative or positive is extremely unlikely.'
The SRY test is the same one adopted by World Boxing when it brought in mandatory sex testing for all competitors this year.
Coe said in a statement on Wednesday: '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.'
The sport of athletics has long considered introducing eligibility criteria for women's events, amid questions over biological advantages for transgender athletes and those with differences of sex development (DSD).
Transgender women who have gone through male puberty are currently banned by World Athletics from competing in women's events, while the federation requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to take medication to lower them in order to be eligible.
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With AFP inputs
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