🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for three years after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping infractions.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that test - such as her global best performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had sought a 48-month ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

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

"This matter regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, 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 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also found in a test taken from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

The unit had "major doubts about the reliability 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 standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, championships, appearance and earnings since March 14 lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust 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 revealing substance abuses performed by top competitors in their races."