Long-distance running Record Holder Chepngetich Handed Three-Year Suspension

Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for three years after the runner confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on March 14.

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

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

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including communications from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

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

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the detection threshold were also identified in a test collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out 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 two days before the positive test.

The unit had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

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

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and earnings from 14 March lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of revealing doping violations performed by top competitors in their races."