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Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been suspended for three years after the runner confessed to anti-doping rule violations.

The record holder was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a masking agent - on March 14.

The athlete's achievements which occurred before that sample - including her global best performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds 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 penalty was reduced to three years because she confessed to the violations.

Nonetheless, the AIU will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "strong grounds that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material found on Chepngetich's phone to ascertain if any other violations have taken place."

'Nobody is above the rules'

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

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

Traces of the diuretic below the minimal reporting level were also found in a test collected from the runner two weeks earlier, on 28 February.

At a subsequent meeting on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned suspicious evidence acquired from her phone. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the authority.

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

The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' anti-doping rules, such "recklessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an increased four-year penalty applies".

An automatic one-year reduction was applied after the runner admitted the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.

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

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

"While unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the system is supposed to work."

"The road-running industry should be praised for collectively funding anti-doping efforts able to revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their events."