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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner acknowledged doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance often utilized as a concealing drug - on March 14.

The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that test - including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds 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 lowered to 36 months because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages dating back to 2022.

"The case concerning the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence found on Chepngetich's device to determine if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

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

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also identified in a sample taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her mobile. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete changed her explanation on 31 July, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed 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 longer 48-month penalty applies".

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

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, titles, appearance and earnings from March 14 forfeited.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for jointly supporting doping prevention able to revealing substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their events."