🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner confessed to anti-doping infractions.

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

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

The sports governing body had sought a four-year ban but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including communications from as early as the year 2022.

"The case concerning the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an reason for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

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

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

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after the runner confessed to the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban started on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's results, awards, championships, participation and earnings since March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While 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 able to uncovering doping violations performed by top competitors in their races."