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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been prohibited for three years after the Kenyan confessed to doping infractions.

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

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - including her global best time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate proof from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including communications dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

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

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

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

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

"Nobody is above the rules."

"While unfortunate 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 collectively funding doping prevention capable of revealing doping violations performed by elite athletes in their events."