Caster Semenya will race in the 3,000 metres at the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Classic in the United States on June 30. The distance is one in which she can race without reducing her testosterone levels.
It will also be her race since new International Associations of Athletics (IAAF) rules ordering her and other athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) to take medication to lower her testosterone levels went into effect.
Under the new regulations, female athletes with high natural levels of testosterone wishing to compete in events from 400m to a mile must medically limit that level to under 5 nmol/L, double the normal female range of below 2 nmol/L
Semenya, who has won two Olympic gold medals over 800 metres, has been adamant that she will not take medication to lower her testosterone levels to comply with the new guidelines.
Semenya will race against 5,000-metres champion Hellen Obiri, 2016 world indoor 1,500-metres champion Sifan Hassan, and 2018 world indoor 1,500 and 3,000-metres champion Genzebe Dibaba.
Semenya has a personal best of 9:36.29 in the flat 3,000 metres, the slowest of the runners in the Prefontaine Classic, with Dibaba (8:16.60) the quickest.
The South African’s last race over 800 metres was in the Diamond League in Doha on May 3, when she cruised to victory in 1:54.98, nearly three seconds ahead of Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.
