According to Lao Dong's investigation, units with athletes competing in the professional marathon – 42km women's event at the 2026 National Marathon Championship, Tien Phong newspaper, have conducted gender testing on SRY genes according to the regulations of the Vietnam Athletics Federation.
The test results have been sent to the Vietnam Athletics Federation.
The 2026 National Marathon Championship of Tien Phong Newspaper will be held on March 29 in Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa). The professional marathon – 42km men's and marathon – 42km women's events at the tournament will calculate the results at the X-2026 National Sports Games.
Before the tournament started, the Vietnam Athletics Federation, based on the regulations of the World Athletics Federation (WA), issued a Notice regulating the gender testing of SRY genes for athletes participating in women's events at national system tournaments.
The Vietnam Athletics Federation stipulates the SRY gene testing for female athletes to ensure fairness in high-performance sports competitions, specifically as follows:
The SRY gene test is only applied to female athletes and only needs to be performed once at a reputable and competent testing facility, the test results are always respected, kept secret, preserved and recognized by the Federation throughout the athlete's training and competition process;
The SRY gene test is applied generally to athletics tournaments within the competition system issued by the Vietnam National Sports Administration and the Vietnam Athletics Federation, effective from February 1, 2026”, content in the Notice of the Vietnam Athletics Federation.
The SRY gene test is a test to detect the key SRY gene (located on the Y chromosome, this gene regulates male sexuality development) used to diagnose and determine the exact biological sex of people with unclear clinical sex (the test is performed by taking a sample from inside the cheek or blood test, depending on which method is more convenient).
