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Female long-distance global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the runner confessed to anti-doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that test - such as her global best time of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in 2024 - will still stand.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year ban but the runner's penalty was lowered to three years because she admitted to the violations.

However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications from as early as 2022.

"The case concerning the positive test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's phone to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, was unable to give an reason for the failed 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 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a later interview on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof acquired from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the framework of the sport's doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month sanction applies".

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

The 36-month suspension commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, awards, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While disappointing 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 collectively funding doping prevention capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."