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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner confessed to doping rule violations.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that test - such as her global best time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old punishment was lowered to three years because she admitted to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on 11 July, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

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

The unit had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich admitted the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The three-year ban started on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, championships, participation and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention able to uncovering doping violations committed by top competitors in their events."