🔗 Share this article

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

The record holder was temporarily banned in July following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a concealing drug - on March 14.

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that test - including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had requested a four-year ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been intentional" - featuring messages dating back to 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete'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 sample collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

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

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her housemaid's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 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 sport's doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to the doping rule violations inside the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, honors, championships, appearance and prize money from March 14 lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

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