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

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on March 14.

The athlete's achievements which pre-date that test - such as her world record performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a 48-month ban but the runner's punishment was reduced to 36 months because she admitted to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages from as early as the year 2022.

"This matter regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.

Although HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete'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 Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had taken her housemaid's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich admitted the doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban started on 19 April - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, appearance and earnings from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"While 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 commended for collectively funding doping prevention capable of revealing doping violations performed by elite athletes in their races."