🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the runner acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

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

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

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, claiming that she had used her housemaid's medication - marked as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

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

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner admitted the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, championships, participation and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their events."