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diff --git a/CI/physmon/reference/tracksummary_ckf_ttbar_hist.root b/CI/physmon/reference/tracksummary_ckf_ttbar_hist.root
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diff --git a/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.cpp b/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.cpp
index bad3b902771..fe39105ba55 100644
--- a/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.cpp
+++ b/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // This file is part of the Acts project.
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2017-2019 CERN for the benefit of the Acts project
+// Copyright (C) 2017-2024 CERN for the benefit of the Acts project
 //
 // This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 // License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
@@ -115,10 +115,15 @@ Pythia8Generator::operator()(RandomEngine& rng) {
     // only secondaries have a defined vertex position
     if (m_cfg.labelSecondaries && genParticle.hasVertex()) {
       // either add to existing secondary vertex if exists or create new one
-      // TODO can we do this w/o the manual search and position check?
-      auto it = std::find_if(
-          vertices.begin(), vertices.end(),
-          [=](const SimVertex& other) { return pos4 == other.position4; });
+
+      // check if an existing vertex is close enough
+      auto it =
+          std::find_if(vertices.begin(), vertices.end(),
+                       [&pos4, this](const SimVertex& other) {
+                         return (pos4.head<3>() - other.position()).norm() <
+                                m_cfg.spatialVertexThreshold;
+                       });
+
       if (it != vertices.end()) {
         particleId.setVertexSecondary(std::distance(vertices.begin(), it));
         it->outgoing.insert(particleId);
diff --git a/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.hpp b/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.hpp
index f7f852b1d7a..4b6f8a20614 100644
--- a/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.hpp
+++ b/Examples/Algorithms/GeneratorsPythia8/ActsExamples/Generators/Pythia8ProcessGenerator.hpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // This file is part of the Acts project.
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2017-2019 CERN for the benefit of the Acts project
+// Copyright (C) 2017-2024 CERN for the benefit of the Acts project
 //
 // This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 // License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ class Pythia8Generator : public EventGenerator::ParticlesGenerator {
     /// Turn on/off the labeling of secondary vertices
     /// TODO this is essentially broken as the current code will label any kind
     /// of decay as secondary
-    bool labelSecondaries = false;
+    bool labelSecondaries = true;
+    /// The spatial threshold to consider a particle originating from a vertex
+    double spatialVertexThreshold = 1.0 * Acts::UnitConstants::um;
   };
 
   Pythia8Generator(const Config& cfg, Acts::Logging::Level lvl);
diff --git a/Examples/Python/tests/root_file_hashes.txt b/Examples/Python/tests/root_file_hashes.txt
index 2c54bb27aa7..9f977c62425 100644
--- a/Examples/Python/tests/root_file_hashes.txt
+++ b/Examples/Python/tests/root_file_hashes.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-test_pythia8__pythia8_particles.root: 79fa44dadc3193c9349c108c7a784d6121d343f88e8059ca11eed442ab1d49db
+test_pythia8__pythia8_particles.root: 49b89c3458a51aa9407f887be50e6bbcd9a2a0c897e6f2be5a5d6a29d1bf3505
 test_fatras__particles_simulation.root: 4ce0feb0ecb234143f418789a7a0d377f4a653d529c49bf999dda1878c50cee1
 test_fatras__hits.root: 2e47d9ba55fa1b377f70c361107fe811e9880d14c42cb3d7a9cd4616a6f33a54
 test_geant4__particles_simulation.root: 3052d64dfe627c22521c3dd95397a3c02c1c63fd5d6d07606005541014b40b1d