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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July 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 world record performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's phone to determine if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also found in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "recklessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich admitted the doping breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

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

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"Although disappointing for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by top competitors in their events."