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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

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

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

The sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining proof from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including messages from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the positive test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence found on the runner's phone to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an reason for the positive test.

Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also found in a sample taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

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

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

The 36-month suspension commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and prize money since March 14 lost.

"Nobody is above the rules."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the system is supposed to work."

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