Marathon Record Holder Chepngetich Given Three-Year Suspension

Female long-distance world record-holder the athlete has been prohibited for three years after the Kenyan admitted to doping infractions.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in July following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on March 14.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that test - including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year suspension but the runner's punishment was lowered to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, stating that she had taken her housemaid's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

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

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after Chepngetich admitted the anti-doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, awards, titles, participation and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention able to uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."