🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon world record-holder the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the runner admitted to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - such as her world record performance of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had sought a 48-month suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including communications from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on the runner's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from the runner 14 days prior, on 28 February.

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

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, honors, titles, appearance and prize money since 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of revealing substance abuses performed by top competitors in their events."