World Athletics is introducing mandatory testing to determine the biological sex of anyone wishing to compete in female events. The governing body’s president, Sebastian Coe, announced the move on Tuesday, March 25, and it is reported that they want to have the process in place for the World Championships in September.

The once-off test will consist of a cheek swab that determines if a part of the Y chromosome called the SRY gene is present. A dried blood spot test could also be used to analyse an athlete’s testosterone levels. 

The “pre-clearance requirement” is one of several recommendations to have been approved by the World Athletics Council impacting the eligibility of trans and difference of sex development (DSD) athletes. Coe maintains that the measure contributes to “doggedly” protecting the female category, saying: “We feel this is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition.”

Based on feedback from its working group, World Athletics also plans to merge regulations for trans and DSD athletes. While the former have been banned from female competitions since 2023, the latter were allowed to participate, provided they reduced their testosterone levels to a set measure for at least six months before competing. It is understood that this will no longer be the case.

While it is unclear how this decision will impact the policies of other sporting associations, it comes as preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics continue under Donald Trump’s presidency. Earlier this year, the Republican signed an executive order banning trans women from competing in female categories, and he has threatened permanent visa bans to transgender athletes attempting to enter the US for sports.

Notice that this testing applies solely to female competitors. This reeks of misogyny. Women, particularly women of color, are likely to suffer more from this decision than to benefit from it.
There’s a reason that sex testing was banned. https://t.co/y32oc5QrNC

— Thomas Willett (@ThomasWillett9) March 25, 2025

Although the International Olympic Committee previously called a return to sex testing a “bad idea”, incoming president Kirsty Coventry has not ruled it out. “This is a conversation that’s happened and the international federations have taken a far greater lead in this conversation,” she told Sky News last week.

“So what I’d like to do again is bring the international federations together and sit down and try and come up with a collective way forward for all of us to move.”

This decision comes despite the fact that studies demonstrate that trans female athletes have no inherent advantage over their cisgender counterparts in elite sport.