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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to doping infractions.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that sample - such as her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had requested a four-year suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the positive test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also found in a test taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

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

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner confessed to the anti-doping breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when the athlete accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's results, honors, championships, participation and prize money since March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their events."