🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to doping rule violations.

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

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

The sports governing body had requested a four-year suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from the runner's device to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the failed test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also found in a sample collected from the runner 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used her housemaid's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after the runner admitted the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

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

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing doping violations performed by top competitors in their events."