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Female long-distance global champion the athlete has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner acknowledged doping infractions.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance 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 two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had requested a 48-month suspension but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.

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

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

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the AIU, the marathoner, the first woman to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, the athlete's sample showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also found in a sample taken from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, contamination had also been ruled out by the authority.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had taken her housemaid's pills - labeled as being the banned substance - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The unit had "major doubts about the credibility of the new version of events" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is considered "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty applies".

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

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the competitor's results, awards, championships, participation and prize money since March 14 forfeited.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"Although disappointing for those who put their trust in this runner, this is how the system is designed to operate."

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their events."