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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for three years after the runner confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on March 14.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that sample - including her global best time of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will still stand.

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

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

"The case regarding the positive test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When questioned in the fourth month by the integrity body, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the positive test.

While the substance has a minimum reporting level of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ below the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on July 31, stating that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

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

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after Chepngetich confessed to the doping breaches inside the 20 days required.

The three-year ban started on April 19 - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, awards, championships, participation and prize money since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the process is designed to operate."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of revealing doping violations committed by top competitors in their races."