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

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in July following a failed test for a banned substance - a prohibited substance used commonly as a concealing drug - on March 14.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - such as her global best performance of 2:09:56 in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had sought a four-year ban but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been intentional" - including messages from as early as 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to determine if any further infractions have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the AIU, Chepngetich, the first woman to run a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an reason for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in urine, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Traces of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample taken from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

The athlete altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the failed test.

The unit had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month sanction is applicable".

An standard 12-month decrease was granted after Chepngetich admitted the doping rule violations within the specified 20-day period.

The 36-month suspension started on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's results, honors, championships, appearance and earnings since 14 March forfeited.

"Nobody is above the rules."

"While disappointing for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for jointly supporting doping prevention capable of revealing doping violations committed by elite athletes in their events."