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Women's marathon global champion the athlete has been banned for 36 months after the Kenyan acknowledged doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July 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 global best performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year suspension but the runner's punishment was reduced to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages 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 recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

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

Traces of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on 11 July, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her phone. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after the runner confessed to the 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 performances, awards, championships, participation and earnings since March 14 lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."