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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for three years after the runner confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's achievements which occurred before that sample - including her global best performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the runner's punishment was lowered to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including communications dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's test showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ under the detection threshold were also identified in a test collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the authority.

Chepngetich altered her story on 31 July, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

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

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, awards, championships, participation and prize money since March 14 lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate 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 doping violations committed by top competitors in their events."