diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7b8e2ba0d97..45ff2cec89b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -108,8 +108,13 @@ if "linux" in sys.platform or "darwin" in sys.platform:
 
 def cython_extensions(package_names, module_names, extra_sources, include_dirs,
                       libraries, define_macros, build_with_cython=False):
+  # Set compiler directives linetrace argument only if we care about tracing;
+  # this is due to Cython having different behavior between linetrace being
+  # False and linetrace being unset. See issue #5689.
+  cython_compiler_directives = {}
   if ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING:
     define_macros = define_macros + [('CYTHON_TRACE_NOGIL', 1)]
+    cython_compiler_directives['linetrace'] = True
   file_extension = 'pyx' if build_with_cython else 'c'
   module_files = [os.path.join(PYTHON_STEM,
                                name.replace('.', '/') + '.' + file_extension)
@@ -129,7 +134,7 @@ def cython_extensions(package_names, module_names, extra_sources, include_dirs,
     return Cython.Build.cythonize(
         extensions,
         include_path=include_dirs,
-        compiler_directives={'linetrace': bool(ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING)})
+        compiler_directives=cython_compiler_directives)
   else:
     return extensions
 
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
index f120fc7ed69..79a148faf1b 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,11 @@ export PATH=$ROOT/bins/$CONFIG:$ROOT/bins/$CONFIG/protobuf:$PATH
 export CFLAGS="-I$ROOT/include -std=gnu99"
 export LDFLAGS="-L$ROOT/libs/$CONFIG"
 export GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_WITH_CYTHON=1
-export GRPC_PYTHON_ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING=1
+
+if [ "$CONFIG" = "gcov" ]
+then
+  export GRPC_PYTHON_ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING=1
+fi
 
 tox --notest
 
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
index ace49e15142..d4b7250cbb7 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ export PATH=$ROOT/bins/$CONFIG:$ROOT/bins/$CONFIG/protobuf:$PATH
 export CFLAGS="-I$ROOT/include -std=c89"
 export LDFLAGS="-L$ROOT/libs/$CONFIG"
 export GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_WITH_CYTHON=1
-export GRPC_PYTHON_ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING=1
 
 if [ "$CONFIG" = "gcov" ]
 then
+  export GRPC_PYTHON_ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING=1
   tox
 else
   $ROOT/.tox/py27/bin/python $ROOT/setup.py test_lite