🔗 Share this article

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

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year ban but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to run 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 samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also identified in a test collected from the runner 14 days prior, on February 28.

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

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used her housemaid's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".

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

The three-year ban commenced on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing substance abuses performed by top competitors in their races."