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Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for three years after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that test - such as her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year ban but the runner's penalty was reduced to three years because she confessed to the violations.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including 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 found on Chepngetich's device to determine if any other violations have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also found in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her housemaid's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The unit had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, 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 breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, titles, appearance and prize money since March 14 forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses performed by elite athletes in their events."