Caster Semenya to run 3,000m in Prefontaine

Caster Semenya will race in the 3,000m at the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic on 30 June, a distance she can compete at without having to lower her testosterone levels.

Caster Semenya won 800m gold Olympic at London 2012 and Rio 2016

Under new IAAF rules, the double 800m Olympic champion can run in events from 400m to the mile by taking medication.

South African Semenya, 28, has said she will not take medication to comply with the rules.

The race will be her first since the rules came into effect on 8 May.

Women with higher than normal male hormone levels – so-called “hyperandrogenic” athletes – must now artificially reduce the amount of testosterone in their bodies to be allowed to compete in races between 400m and a mile.

Semenya won the 800m at the Doha Diamond League meeting on 3 May, her first race since losing her appeal against the controversial rule change at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Following the outcome, Semenya, said the IAAF “always targeted me specifically”.

Prefontaine Classic meet director Tom Jordan said Semenya’s agent asked if she could race in the 3,000m.

“We were happy to oblige,” Jordan said, adding that he saw “no downside whatsoever”.

Semenya will be an underdog in a stellar field that is expected to include world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri, 2016 world indoor 1500m champion Sifan Hassan, and 2018 world indoor 1500m and 3,000m champion Genzebe Dibaba.

“I’m as curious as anyone to see how she will fare against the world’s best distance runners,” Jordan said.