🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic used commonly as a concealing drug - on March 14.

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

The sports governing body had requested a four-year suspension but the runner's 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 "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages dating back to 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to 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 runner's results, honors, titles, appearance and prize money from March 14 forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their races."