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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for three years after the runner admitted to doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that sample - including her world record time of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

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

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as the year 2022.

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

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was shown the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had used her domestic worker's medication - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's doping regulations, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner admitted the anti-doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, honors, titles, participation and prize money since March 14 forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses performed by top competitors in their events."