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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 temporarily banned in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's accomplishments which occurred before that sample - including her world record time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will remain valid.

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

However, the AIU will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's sample showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her mobile. In the meantime, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the positive test.

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

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The three-year ban commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, honors, championships, participation and prize money since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While disappointing for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to uncovering substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."