Caster Semenya returns to the 800m at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting here on Sunday with the athletics world wondering if it may well be her last race over the distance.
The two-time Olympic champion has not raced in the event she has dominated since 2015 since scorching to a world-leading 1min 54.98sec in Doha on May 3.
That outing came just days after the South African star lost a court challenge against International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rules forcing female athletes to regulate their testosterone levels.
The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport said while it feared the IAAF regulations were “discriminatory”, the measures were “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” to preserve the integrity of female athletics.
Semenya successfully obtained an injunction against the introduction of the new IAAF rules on June 3 after a ruling by the Swiss Federal Tribunal, pending a full hearing.
With no final decision from the court expected until next month at the earliest, it means Semenya is free to run in the 800m at Stanford, which is hosting the Prefontaine as the meeting's usual venue at Eugene, Oregon, undergoes renovations ahead of the 2021 World Athletics Championships.
