🔗 Share this article

Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner admitted to doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic used commonly as a concealing drug - on March 14.

Chepngetich's achievements which pre-date that test - such as her global best time of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to three years because she confessed to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been intentional" - including communications from as early as 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also found in a test taken from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, 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 three-year ban commenced on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, awards, titles, appearance and prize money from 14 March lost.

"Nobody is above the rules."

"While 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 anti-doping efforts able to revealing doping violations performed by elite athletes in their races."