diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_weakref.h b/Include/internal/pycore_weakref.h
index 4ed8928c0b92a8c..31c88cfb836e0f4 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_weakref.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_weakref.h
@@ -74,26 +74,27 @@ static inline PyObject* _PyWeakref_GET_REF(PyObject *ref_obj)
     assert(PyWeakref_Check(ref_obj));
     PyWeakReference *ref = _Py_CAST(PyWeakReference*, ref_obj);
 
-    PyObject *obj = FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR(ref->wr_object);
+#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    PyObject *obj = _Py_atomic_load_ptr(&ref->wr_object);
     if (obj == Py_None) {
         // clear_weakref() was called
         return NULL;
     }
-
-    LOCK_WEAKREFS(obj);
-#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
-    if (ref->wr_object == Py_None) {
+    if (_Py_TryIncrefCompare(&ref->wr_object, obj)) {
+        return obj;
+    }
+    return NULL;
+#else
+    PyObject *obj = ref->wr_object;
+    if (obj == Py_None) {
         // clear_weakref() was called
-        UNLOCK_WEAKREFS(obj);
         return NULL;
     }
-#endif
     if (_Py_TryIncref(obj)) {
-        UNLOCK_WEAKREFS(obj);
         return obj;
     }
-    UNLOCK_WEAKREFS(obj);
     return NULL;
+#endif
 }
 
 static inline int _PyWeakref_IS_DEAD(PyObject *ref_obj)
@@ -108,8 +109,8 @@ static inline int _PyWeakref_IS_DEAD(PyObject *ref_obj)
     }
     else {
         LOCK_WEAKREFS(obj);
-        // See _PyWeakref_GET_REF() for the rationale of this test
 #ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+        // The weakref may have been cleared before the lock was acquired.
         ret = (ref->wr_object == Py_None) || _is_dead(obj);
 #else
         ret = _is_dead(obj);
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-16-18-25-48.gh-issue-159564.WMRRFA.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-16-18-25-48.gh-issue-159564.WMRRFA.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..8e59f52fa4090ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-16-18-25-48.gh-issue-159564.WMRRFA.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Improve the performance and thread scaling of dereferencing weak references
+in the :term:`free-threaded build`.  Dereferencing a weak reference no longer
+takes a lock.
diff --git a/Objects/weakrefobject.c b/Objects/weakrefobject.c
index db95bb926d5f733..576274ee4535d8d 100644
--- a/Objects/weakrefobject.c
+++ b/Objects/weakrefobject.c
@@ -84,9 +84,9 @@ clear_weakref_lock_held(PyWeakReference *self, PyObject **callback)
             /* If 'self' is the end of the list (and thus self->wr_next ==
                NULL) then the weakref list itself (and thus the value of *list)
                will end up being set to NULL. */
-            FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR(*list, self->wr_next);
+            FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR_RELEASE(*list, self->wr_next);
         }
-        FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR(self->wr_object, Py_None);
+        FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR_RELEASE(self->wr_object, Py_None);
         if (self->wr_prev != NULL) {
             self->wr_prev->wr_next = self->wr_next;
         }