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Female long-distance world record-holder the athlete has been banned for three years after the Kenyan acknowledged anti-doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on March 14.

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

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring communications from as early as 2022.

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

'No one is exempt from regulations'

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

While the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test 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. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on 31 July, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

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

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"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 able to revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."