Marathon Champion Ruth Chepngetich Receives Three-Year Suspension

Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.

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

Chepngetich's achievements which pre-date that sample - such as her world record performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages dating back to 2022.

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

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.

Although the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also found in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, stating that she had taken her housemaid's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, championships, participation and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention able to uncovering substance abuses committed by top competitors in their events."