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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to 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 concealing drug - on March 14.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the runner's 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" - featuring communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also found in a test taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

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

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had taken her housemaid's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

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

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, appearance and prize money since March 14 lost.

"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 praised for collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses performed by top competitors in their events."