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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for three years after the runner admitted to doping infractions.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - including her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a four-year suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages from as early as 2022.

"This matter regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's device to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on 31 July, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, championships, appearance and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

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