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Women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the runner admitted to doping rule violations.

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's achievements which occurred before 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 sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the runner's punishment was reduced to three years because she admitted to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - including communications dating back to 2022.

"The case concerning the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in April by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of the diuretic under the detection threshold were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, the record holder was presented with the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been ruled out by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had taken her housemaid's medication - marked as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

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

An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner confessed to the anti-doping rule violations inside the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on 19 April - when the athlete accepted a temporary ban - with the runner's results, awards, titles, participation and prize money from 14 March lost.

"No one is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to uncovering substance abuses performed by elite athletes in their events."