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Women's marathon global champion the athlete has been banned for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping infractions.

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

Chepngetich's achievements 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 Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested 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 evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'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 reason for the failed test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been ruled out by the AIU.

The athlete changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had used her domestic worker's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner admitted the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, championships, participation and prize money from March 14 lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

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