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

Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that sample - such as her world record performance of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a four-year ban 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 suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including communications from as early as the year 2022.

"The case regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence found on the runner's phone to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a sample collected from the runner 14 days prior, on February 28.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was presented with the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had used her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the positive test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the sport's 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 anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

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

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."