diff --git a/trace/auto.go b/trace/auto.go
index 7e2910025a9..d90af8f673c 100644
--- a/trace/auto.go
+++ b/trace/auto.go
@@ -57,14 +57,15 @@ type autoTracer struct {
 var _ Tracer = autoTracer{}
 
 func (t autoTracer) Start(ctx context.Context, name string, opts ...SpanStartOption) (context.Context, Span) {
-	var psc SpanContext
+	var psc, sc SpanContext
 	sampled := true
 	span := new(autoSpan)
 
 	// Ask eBPF for sampling decision and span context info.
-	t.start(ctx, span, &psc, &sampled, &span.spanContext)
+	t.start(ctx, span, &psc, &sampled, &sc)
 
 	span.sampled.Store(sampled)
+	span.spanContext = sc
 
 	ctx = ContextWithSpan(ctx, span)