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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner admitted to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which occurred before that test - such as her global best performance of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the runner's penalty was reduced to 36 months because she admitted 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 failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

Although the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the AIU.

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

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month penalty applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner admitted the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The three-year ban commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, titles, appearance and prize money since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention able to uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."