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Female long-distance world record-holder the athlete has been prohibited for three years after the Kenyan confessed to anti-doping infractions.

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

The athlete's achievements which pre-date that sample - such as her world record performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October 2024 - will remain valid.

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

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining evidence from the athlete's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including communications dating back to 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will keep looking into the questionable evidence recovered from the runner's device to determine if any other violations have occurred."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When questioned in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the positive test.

While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on February 28.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, Chepngetich was presented with the aforementioned suspicious evidence obtained from her mobile. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the authority.

Chepngetich changed her explanation on 31 July, claiming that she had taken her domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the positive test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping rules, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty is applicable".

An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping breaches inside the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the runner's performances, honors, titles, appearance and prize money from 14 March forfeited.

"No one is above the rules."

"While disappointing for those who had faith in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing substance abuses performed by elite athletes in their events."