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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to doping infractions.

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 March 14.

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - including her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to three years because she admitted to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate proof from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including messages from as early as 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation 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 detection threshold were also identified in a test collected from the runner 14 days prior, on February 28.

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

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

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

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

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, participation and earnings from March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

"Although disappointing for those who put their trust 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 uncovering doping violations committed by top competitors in their events."