🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance world record-holder the athlete has been banned for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's achievements which pre-date that test - such as her global best time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year ban but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been intentional" - including messages dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material found on the runner's phone to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

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

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

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to 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 regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping rule violations inside the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when the athlete accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, awards, championships, appearance and earnings from 14 March lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"The road-running industry should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."