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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on March 14.

Chepngetich's achievements which occurred before that test - including her world record performance of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will still stand.

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

However, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from Chepngetich'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 regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on February 28.

At a later interview on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence obtained from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, stating that she had used her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after the runner admitted the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich accepted a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, appearance and prize money since 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"Although unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."