The Kenyan runner exceeded the previous Tigst Assefa's female marathon world record by almost two minutes at the marathon event in Chicago in the year 2024.
Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-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 masking agent - on March 14.
Chepngetich's accomplishments which occurred before that test - such as her world record time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will remain valid.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to three years because she confessed to the infractions.
Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including communications from as early as 2022.
"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."
'Nobody is above the rules'
When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the failed test.
Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.
Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.
At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.
The athlete altered her story on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the positive test.
The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction applies".
An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner confessed to the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.
The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, awards, titles, appearance and prize money since March 14 lost.
"No one is above the rules."
"Although disappointing for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the system is designed to operate."
"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts able to revealing doping violations performed by top competitors in their events."
