🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which pre-date that test - including her world record time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

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

However, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as the year 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any other violations have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample collected from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had used her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping rule violations inside the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, appearance and earnings from 14 March lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the process is designed to operate."

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