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

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 achievements which pre-date that sample - including her world record performance of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

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 infractions.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been intentional" - including messages from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on Chepngetich's phone to determine if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

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

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, awards, championships, participation and earnings since March 14 lost.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although disappointing for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses performed by top competitors in their races."