Kenya’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for three years after admitting to anti-doping violations. The Athletics Integrity Unit said the ban followed the detection of a prohibited diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide, in a urine sample collected from her on March 14 this year.
Chepngetich, who broke the women’s marathon world record with a time of two hours, nine minutes, and fifty-six seconds in Chicago last October, will retain the record since it was achieved before her positive test. The AIU said her sample contained 3,800 nanograms per millilitre of the banned substance, far above the World Anti-Doping Agency’s reporting limit.
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Initially, the 31-year-old denied wrongdoing but later claimed she had mistakenly taken medication belonging to her housemaid. The AIU described her conduct as reckless and issued a four-year sanction, later reduced to three years following her early admission of guilt.
Chepngetich is the latest in a series of Kenyan athletes penalised for doping in recent years. The AIU said it would continue to investigate suspicious material recovered from her phone to determine if further violations occurred.
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