🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been banned for three years after the Kenyan confessed to doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

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

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

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including messages from as early as the year 2022.

"The case regarding the positive test for HCTZ has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the AIU.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used 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 revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner confessed to the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, honors, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"The road-running industry should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to uncovering doping violations performed by top competitors in their events."