World Athletics to introduce mandatory sex tests for female competitions

President of World Athletics said the testing is 'a really important way of providing confidence'.

The group have insisted it a 'necessary step' to protect women's sport and address the gender eligibility issue.

Two years ago, they banned transgender females from events.

After a World Athletics Council meeting today, President of the governing body, Sebastian Coe, announced that the group would adopt non-invasive cheek swab tests or dry blood tests.

The test only has to be carried out once on an athlete.

Lord Coe called the testing 'a really important way of providing confidence'.

"This we feel is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition," he said.

The tests verify whether someone has transitioned to a female after going through male puberty, or if they had differences of sex development that provided testosterone advantages.

Lord Coe added: "The pre-clearance testing will be for athletes to be able to compete in the female category.

"The process is very straightforward frankly, very clear and it's an important one and we will work on the timelines.

"Neither of these are invasive. They are necessary and they will be done to absolute medical standards."

This comes after US President Donald Trump declaring there are only two sexes, while calling on sports to ban transgender women from women's events ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee previously called a return to sex testing a 'bad idea', but incoming committee President, Kirsty Coventry, has not ruled it out.

Following her election last week, she told Sky News: "This is a conversation that's happened and the international federations have taken a far greater lead in this conversation."

"What I was proposing is to bring a group together with the international federations and really understand each sport is slightly different.

"We know in equestrian, sex is really not an issue, but in other sports it is.

"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," she continued.

Providers for the tests are now being sought.