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Women's marathon global champion the athlete has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner admitted to doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's achievements which pre-date that sample - such as her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was lowered to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will continue to investigate proof from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

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

Traces of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also found in a test collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her housemaid's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

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

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, titles, participation and prize money since March 14 lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although disappointing for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."