Coe said the decision was “guided by the overarching principle which is to protect the female category”.

World Athletics (WA) President Sebastian Coe announced Thursday new rules impacting transgender women athletes, banning them from competing in female track and field international events regardless of their levels of testosterone.

No female transgender athlete who had gone through male puberty would be permitted to compete in female world ranking competitions from March 31, Coe said.

Speaking after a meeting of the WA’s decision-making body on Thursday, Coe said the global track and field federation had consulted with stakeholders, including 40 national federations, the International Olympic Committee, and trans groups about the issue of transgender athletes.

“The majority of those consulted stated that transgender athletes should not be competing in the female category,” he said in a statement, noting that there are currently no transgender athletes competing internationally in athletics.

“Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations,” he said in a statement.

“We will be guided in this by the science around physical performance and male advantage which will inevitably develop over the coming years. As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position, but we believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount.”

The WA agreed to create a working group headed by a transgender person over the next 12 months to “further consider the issue of transgender inclusion”.

“We’re not saying no forever,” Coe said.

The group will include up to three council members, two athletes from the Athletes’ Commission, a transgender athlete, three representatives of World Athletics’ member federations, and representatives of the World Athletics health and science department.

It will consult specifically with transgender athletes, review and commission research, and also put forward recommendations to the WA.

The WA also voted to tighten restrictions on athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD) such as South Africa's Caster Semenya, a double Olympic 800m champion.

Under the new restrictions, DSD athletes will have to reduce their blood testosterone level to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre, down from the current level of five, and must remain below this threshold for two years to compete internationally in the female category in any track and field event.

Semenya, who has been trying to compete in longer events, would have to undergo hormone-suppressing treatment for six months to compete at 2024’s Olympics – something she said she will never do again, having undergone the treatment a decade ago under previous rules.