Track and field could follow swimming in barring transgender women from female competitions, World Athletics head hints

• Swimming's governing body voted to restrict transgender athletes from women's elite races on Sunday.
• They could also be restricted from competing in track and field.

The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, has hinted that the sport could follow swimming in barring transgender women from elite female competitions.

On Sunday, FINA, swimming's international governing body, voted to restrict transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they had gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

Lord Coe, who attended FINA's Sunday meeting as a guest when it made its decision to bar transgender athletes, said on Monday that the World Athletics council would also review its policies on transgender athletes at the end of the year.

"We see an international federation asserting its primacy in setting rules, regulations and policies that are in the best interest of its sport," he told BBC Sport.

"This is as it should be. We have always believed that biology trumps gender and we will continue to review our regulations in line with this. We will follow the science.

"We continue to study, research and contribute to the growing body of evidence that testosterone is a key determinant in performance, and have scheduled a discussion on our regulations with our council at the end of the year."

Under World Athletics' current rules, transgender women can compete in the female category if they suppress their testosterone levels to below 5nmol/L for 12 months. FINA had also followed that rule until Sunday.

"The integrity of women's sport is really, really important here, and we can't have a generation of young girls thinking there is not a future for them in the sport," added Coe.

"So we have a responsibility maintaining the primacy and the integrity of female competition is absolutely vital, and that's why we were at the forefront of tabling those regulations that allow as close as you can get to a level playing field."

FINA's vote came in light of US swimmer Lia Thomas winning an NCAA Division I women's swimming title in March. Thomas competed at collegiate level as a man before competing as a female after transitioning with hormone replacement therapy.

Thomas had hoped to compete for the US at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but will now be unable to do so in light of the ban.

World Athletics isn't the only sporting governing body to react to FINA's landmark decision.

On Monday, the International Rugby League announced that it had decided to exclude athletes who have transitioned from male to female from international competitions.

It said in a statement that further research was needed before it could finalize its policy, but that for the time being, trans athletes will not be able to play in in test matches or at the Women's Rugby League World Cup.

A spokesperson for world soccer's governing body FIFA also told Reuters that the organization was "currently reviewing its gender eligibility regulations in consultation with expert stakeholders."