🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon global champion the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping infractions.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - including her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had requested a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the positive test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's device to determine if any other violations have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

While the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also found in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the AIU.

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

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich admitted the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, awards, championships, appearance and earnings from 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to revealing doping violations performed by elite athletes in their events."