🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a masking agent - on March 14.

Chepngetich's achievements which occurred before that test - including her global best time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to three years because she confessed to the violations.

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also identified in a sample taken from the runner 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after the runner admitted the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, awards, titles, participation and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to revealing doping violations committed by top competitors in their races."