🔗 Share this article

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

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a four-year ban but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from Chepngetich's device to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's sample showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also found in a sample collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was shown the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, titles, appearance and prize money since March 14 lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of revealing substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their events."