World Athletics mandates gene test for female category eligibility setting September 1 deadline for Tokyo Championships.
Clarifying promised rules on female eligibility, track and field’s governing body has set a deadline of September 1 for athletes to pass a gene test for competing at the world championships.
World Athletics said in March it would require chromosome testing by cheek swabs or dry blood-spot tests for female athletes to be eligible for elite-level events.
The next worlds open September 13 in Tokyo, and September 1 is “the closing date for entries and the date the regulations come into effect,” World Athletics said in a statement on Wednesday.
The latest rules update gives certainty for the 2025 championships in an issue that has been controversial on the track and in multiple courts since Caster Semenya won her first 800 metres world title as a teenager in 2009.
