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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner admitted to anti-doping rule violations.

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that test - including her world record time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the runner's penalty was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

However, the AIU will keep examining evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's test showed an approximate level of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample taken from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on February 28.

At a later interview on 11 July, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to the anti-doping rule violations inside the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and earnings from 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While disappointing for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of uncovering doping violations performed by elite athletes in their races."