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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for three years after the Kenyan admitted to doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a four-year ban but the runner's penalty was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the AIU will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also identified in a test collected from Chepngetich 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, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the AIU.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her housemaid's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The unit had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, awards, championships, participation and prize money since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is above the rules."

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

"The road-running industry should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to uncovering doping violations performed by elite athletes in their races."