Long-distance running Record Holder Ruth Chepngetich Given Three-Year Suspension

Female long-distance world record-holder the athlete has been suspended for three years after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications from as early as 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the positive 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.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a later interview on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been ruled out by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner admitted the anti-doping breaches within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, awards, championships, appearance and earnings from 14 March lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"While disappointing for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering doping violations performed by top competitors in their events."