Long-distance running Record Holder Chepngetich Given 36-month Ban

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

The record holder was temporarily banned in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which occurred before that test - including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman 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 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also found in a sample collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".

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

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's results, awards, titles, appearance and earnings since March 14 forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"While disappointing for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."