World record holder and Nigeria’s sprint hurdler, Tobi Amusan, will be among the female athletes subject to a mandatory genetic gender test under new regulations introduced by World Athletics ahead of the 2025 World Championships scheduled to take place in Tokyo.
According to the updated eligibility criteria released by the global athletics body, all athletes competing in the female category must undergo a one-time genetic test to confirm their biological sex starting from September 1, 2025.
The test will screen for the presence of the SRY gene, typically located on the Y chromosome, and will be conducted through a cheek swab or blood sample.
World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe, defended the policy during a media briefing, stating that the move is aimed at ensuring fairness in women’s sports.
“We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology,” Coe said.
He added that the measure was backed by the organization’s Gender Diverse Athlete Working Group, and consolidates prior regulations concerning transgender athletes and those with Differences of Sex Development (DSD) into a single standard for all female athletes.
The announcement comes as Tobi Amusan, the 2022 World Champion and current 100m hurdles world record holder, prepares to compete at the Nigerian Championships in Lagos from August 1 to 3, where she aims to defend her national title in the lead-up to the Tokyo championships beginning September 13.
While the regulations are not set to take effect until 2025, the inclusion of high-profile athletes like Amusan in the testing pool has stirred public debate, particularly concerning privacy, dignity, and the implications of such policies on women’s sports globally.
World Athletics thanked national federations for their cooperation and emphasised the importance of compliance in preserving the integrity of competitive female athletics.
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