The Kenyan runner surpassed Ethiopian Tigst Assefa's women's marathon world record by almost two minutes at the marathon event in Chicago in the year 2024.
Women's marathon global champion Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for three years after the runner admitted to doping rule violations.
Chepngetich was temporarily banned in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a prohibited substance often utilized as a masking agent - on 14 March.
The athlete's achievements which occurred before that test - including her global best performance of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had sought a four-year ban but the 31-year-old penalty was reduced to 36 months because she confessed to the violations.
However, the integrity unit will continue to investigate evidence from the athlete's phone which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been deliberate" - including messages from as early as the year 2022.
"This matter regarding the failed test for HCTZ has been settled, but the unit will continue to investigate the questionable evidence found on the runner's device to ascertain if any further infractions have taken place."
When questioned in April by the AIU, Chepngetich, the initial female to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.
Although HCTZ has a lowest detectable limit of 20 ng/mL in samples, Chepngetich's test showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.
Small amounts of HCTZ below the minimal reporting level were also found in a sample collected from the runner 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. 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 domestic worker's pills - marked as being HCTZ - after falling sick two days before the failed test.
The AIU had "serious reservations about the credibility of the revised account" and, in the framework of the athletics' doping regulations, such "recklessness" is deemed "indirect intent, for which an longer 48-month penalty is applicable".
An automatic one-year reduction was granted after Chepngetich confessed to the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.
The three-year ban commenced on April 19 - when Chepngetich accepted a temporary ban - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, participation and prize money since March 14 forfeited.
"Nobody is exempt from regulations."
"While unfortunate for those who put their trust in this athlete, this is how the process is supposed to work."
"Marathon organizers should be commended for collectively funding doping prevention able to uncovering doping violations performed by top competitors in their events."
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