🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon world record-holder the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the runner acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's achievements which pre-date that test - such as her global best performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month suspension but the runner's penalty was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring messages dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on Chepngetich's device to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the positive test.

Although the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

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

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, 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 pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the failed test.

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

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

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, championships, participation and prize money from March 14 forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."