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Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to doping rule violations.

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

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

The sports governing body had sought a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was lowered to 36 months because she admitted to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate proof from Chepngetich's phone which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

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

While the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her housemaid's pills - 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 context of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner confessed to the anti-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, titles, participation and prize money from March 14 forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."