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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for 36 months after the Kenyan admitted to doping infractions.

Chepngetich was temporarily banned in July following a positive test for a banned substance - a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent - on 14 March.

Chepngetich's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - such as her global best time of 2:09:56 in the Chicago event in 2024 - will still stand.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a four-year ban but the 31-year-old punishment was reduced to three years because she admitted to the infractions.

However, the AIU will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's phone which it found suggest "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring messages dating back to 2022.

"This matter concerning the failed test for the substance has been settled, but the AIU will keep looking into the suspicious material recovered from the runner's device to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'No one is exempt from regulations'

When interviewed in the fourth month by the integrity body, the marathoner, the initial female to run a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an explanation for the failed test.

Although the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, the athlete's test showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of HCTZ under the detection threshold were also found in a test taken from the runner 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on July 11, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned questionable proof obtained from her phone. In the meantime, accidental exposure had also been ruled out by the AIU.

The athlete altered her story on 31 July, stating that she had used her housemaid's medication - labeled as being HCTZ - after becoming ill two days before the failed test.

The AIU had "serious reservations about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the context of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "carelessness" is considered "implied intention, for which an increased four-year sanction is applicable".

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

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

"No one is above the rules."

"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 capable of uncovering substance abuses committed by elite athletes in their events."