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Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been suspended for three years after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - including her global best time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old punishment was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on the runner's phone to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also found in a test collected from the runner 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich admitted the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

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

"No one is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of uncovering doping violations committed by top competitors in their races."