🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

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

The sports governing body had requested a four-year ban but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been intentional" - including communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's device to determine if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

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

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner admitted the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, honors, titles, participation and prize money from March 14 lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While disappointing for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."