Just days after losing the battle to become president of the International Olympic Committee, Seb Coe is back in action as president of World Athletics and, speaking at the close of the governing body’s latest council meeting, he said “pre-clearance tests” will be introduced soon for female athletes.
These will include cheek-swab tests and will be non-invasive. They will only be necessary once in an athlete’s career, too. New regulations, he added, will be drafted in coming weeks with the chance the tests could be introduced ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
Coe said: “It’s important to do it because it maintains everything that we’ve been talking about, and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female women’s sport, but actually guaranteeing it. We feel this is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition.
“We will doggedly protect the female category, and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it.”
Under its existing rules, World Athletics excludes anyone from the female category who has undergone male puberty, based on research that says trans women retain a significant physical advantage even after undergoing testosterone suppression therapy.
But the governing body is now citing new evidence which shows there is already an athletically significant performance gap before the onset of puberty and is consequently looking to strengthen its rules in this area.
Coe says the move is motivated by a desire to “ensure that our guidelines keep up with the latest information available to maintain a fair and level playing field in the female category”.
(David Hewitson)
World Athletics conducted consultation on the proposal earlier this year. “Overwhelmingly, the view has come back that this is absolutely the way to go,” said Coe, “within the caveats raised [on testing not being too intrusive].”
Asked whether he felt the policy would stand up to legal challenge and scrutiny, Coe said: “Yes I am, but you accept the fact that that is the world we live in. I would never have set off down this path to protect the female category in sport if I’d been anything other than prepared to take the challenge head on.
“We’ve been to the court of arbitration [for sport] on our DSD [difference of sexual development] regulations. They have been upheld and they have again been upheld after appeal.”
In other news, Coe said the 300m hurdles will become an “official event”, although there is no suggestion it will be brought into major championships any time soon.
Current world records are held by Femke Bol with 36.86 and Karsten Warholm with 33.26. British athletes Chris Rawlinson and David Hemery are among those who have held the world best marks for this event in the past.
Femke Bol (Getty)
A new mixed 4x100m with women running the first two legs followed by two men will be introduced to the World Athletics Relays this year in Guangzhou and the Ultimate Championships in 2026.
With regards evenets, Gaborone, Botswana, will host the 2026 World Athletics Relays; Brasilia, Brazil will stage the 2026 Race Walking Team Championships; and Nassau, Bahamas, will hold the World Athletics Relays for the fifth time in 2028.
In other news, there is no change to current sanctions over Russia and Belarus. The timetable for the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee in January was approved. The creation of a new coaching body will be investigated as well to provide a voice to coaches.
With the curtain having only just fallen on the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, Coe said: “We had three days of really, really good action and it marks the start of a busy and productive year for athletics. This was the start of a three-year journey through Asia with five World Athletics events here in the next two and a half year.”
» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
