The international governing body for track and field announced a one-time, mandatory gender verification test ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo this September. Female athletes will be required to undergo a test for the SRY gene, the federation disclosed. The test is designed to verify “biological sex” and can be performed via a cheek swab or a blood draw. The rule takes effect on September 1 and applies to all World Ranking competitions, including the World Championships.
“Our philosophy at World Athletics is to protect and preserve the integrity of women’s sport,” said Sebastian Coe, the British president of the World Athletics governing body, explaining the move, and adding: “We are saying: at the elite level you may only compete in the women’s category if you are biologically female.”
The tests will be conducted by the national federations. After the sample is received, the analysis, according to World Athletics, can take one to two weeks, depending on the country and the laboratory.
“Trans Panic” in School, Amateur, and Elite Sports
The move is plainly a reaction to what is described as “trans panic,” a backlash that has spread worldwide since Donald Trump took office in January. Trump had already labeled transgender people a danger during his campaign. His administration is currently pressing to push transgender girls and women out of not just professional sports, but also school and amateur sports— including by suing states, TheColu.mn reported. In January, World Athletics chief Coe also characterized transgender women as a “threat” to elite sport on Deutsche Welle.
World Athletics has introduced a gene test for the female category in a bid to protect the “integrity of women’s sport”.
Their president Sebastian Coe told DW in January already, transgender athletes are “a threat to the female category at elite level”. pic.twitter.com/eNiZ3BvGgoDW Sports (@dw_sports) July 31, 2025
Scientific research currently plays only a limited role in the culture war over transgender rights. There is no consensus that transgender women have an advantage over cisgender women in sport: several smaller studies have found that transgender women are not inherently superior to other women; for example, an International Olympic Committee study in April (TheColu.mn reported). The data landscape, however, remains quite thin.
Recently, the World Darts Federation (WDF) also announced that it would exclude transgender women from women’s tournaments (TheColu.mn reported).
