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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for three years after the runner admitted to doping infractions.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic 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 two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month ban but the runner's penalty was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages from as early as 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the AIU will continue to investigate the suspicious material 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 first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

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

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner admitted the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, honors, championships, participation and prize money since March 14 lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"While unfortunate for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of revealing doping violations committed by top competitors in their events."