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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which pre-date that test - such as her world record performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the violations.

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

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

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

Small amounts of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also found in a sample taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the authority.

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

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

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after Chepngetich admitted the doping rule violations inside the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, honors, titles, appearance and prize money from March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be praised for collectively funding doping prevention able to revealing substance abuses performed by elite athletes in their races."