Semenya to contest 3,000-metres at Prefontaine Classic

TIL Desk Sports/ Caster Semenya will compete in the 3,000 metres at the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California on June 30, a distance she can race without reducing her testosterone levels.

Semenya, who has won two Olympic golds over 800 metres, has been adamant that she will not take medication to lower her testosterone levels to comply with new International Associations of Athletics (IAAF) rules.

The race will be her first since the new rules 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.

Barring an appeal, Semenya can no longer compete in her specialist event after she lost her appeal against the new rules, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) stating that the regulations were necessary to ensure fair competition.