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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for three years after the Kenyan admitted to anti-doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

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

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate proof from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been intentional" - featuring messages from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on the runner's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also found in a test collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when the athlete accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, honors, titles, appearance and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention able to revealing doping violations committed by top competitors in their races."