London Marathon will wait for guidance on trans athletes before making changes

Last weeks landmark ruling on trans women in Britain will not impact Sundays London Marathon, with race director Hugh Brasher saying he supports a recent World Athletics decision to gender test to protect womens rights to compete fairly.

Brasher added he will wait for guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Sport England before deciding if changes are needed for future editions of the London Marathon, which currently permits runners in the mass race to self-identify their gender, but restricts entries in the elite and championship races to females at birth.

Last weeks much anticipated ruling said only biological and not trans women meet the definition of a woman under equality laws, a decision that confirms that single-sex services for women such as sports can exclude trans women.

Its really difficult to predict what we would do, Brasher said on a call with media on Wednesday.

Ive gone through loads of different scenario planning since the court delivered its verdict, but honestly, we have to wait until the commission gives its report, until Sport England do, because otherwise were just going on to what ifs, what ifs, what ifs.

We delight in being both inclusive but also protecting in competition the rights of women, which is incredibly important. Seb Coe and World Athletics have always led on that, and we absolutely look to continue doing that.

World Athletics president Coe announced last month that female athletes will soon have to undergo a one-time genetic test to compete in womens events, which has been met with criticism.

I think that what World Athletics have done has been incredibly good for athletics and been really clear, Brasher said. When you look at the Olympics, youre looking at protecting womens competitive sport, I think its absolutely vital. The job that