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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the runner acknowledged doping rule violations.

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 concealing drug - on March 14.

Chepngetich's achievements which occurred before that sample - including her global best performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

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

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages dating back to the year 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on the runner'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 initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

Although the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

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

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her housemaid's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping regulations, such "recklessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner admitted the anti-doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

"Although unfortunate for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts able to revealing doping violations committed by elite athletes in their races."