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

The record holder was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.

The athlete's achievements which pre-date that sample - including her global best performance of 2:09:56 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 lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from the athlete's mobile device which it found indicate "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - featuring messages dating back to the year 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the questionable evidence recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in April by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, could not provide an explanation for the positive test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an approximate level of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the detection threshold were also identified in a sample taken from Chepngetich 14 days prior, 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 AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, claiming that she had used her housemaid's pills - labeled as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the positive test.

The unit had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "recklessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

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

The three-year ban started on April 19 - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, championships, appearance and prize money since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their races."