🔗 Share this article

Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the runner confessed to doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on March 14.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications dating back to 2022.

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

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from the runner 14 days prior, on February 28.

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

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

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to the doping rule violations inside the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, honors, titles, appearance and earnings since March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing doping violations performed by top competitors in their races."