🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

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

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

The sports governing body had sought a 48-month suspension but the runner's punishment was lowered to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining proof from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications dating back to 2022.

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

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

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

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

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

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

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's results, honors, titles, participation and prize money from March 14 forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."