World Athletics will conduct gender testing

In an effort to clarify the nature of participants in women's events, World Athletics confirmed the implementation of gender testing to ensure athletes are eligible for official competitions.

The international body established this new measure in its regulations for events that are part of the world ranking, which will come into effect starting September 1 and will be applied for the first time at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo .

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“At World Athletics, we value the philosophy of protecting and promoting the integrity of women's sport. It's truly important in a sport that strives to attract women to believe there is no biological glass ceiling,” said the world's top athletics official.

Sebastian Coe, president of the World Athletics Federation, highlighted this event as an important step toward ensuring equality in these categories, with a strong message that "to compete in the women's category, you must be biologically female."

This test aims to detect the SKY gene , considered a reliable indicator for determining a person's biological sex . It involves either swabbing the cheek or undergoing a blood test, depending on the athlete's position.

With these new regulations, women's competitions will be defined by World Athletics rules , which consider participants to be biological women, or those who have used testosterone as part of a male gender-affirming treatment, after a minimum period of four years has elapsed since their last use.

These guidelines also include two specific cases of biological men with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome who have not undergone male sexual development or who have differences in it, but who comply with the transitional provisions of the global authority.