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Female long-distance world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for 36 months after the Kenyan confessed to doping rule violations.

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

The athlete's achievements which pre-date that sample - including her global best time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in 2024 - will remain valid.

The sports governing body had requested a 48-month ban but the 31-year-old penalty was lowered to three years because she confessed to the infractions.

However, the integrity unit will keep examining proof from Chepngetich's mobile device which it found suggest "a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional" - including messages dating back to the year 2022.

"The case regarding the positive test for the substance has been resolved, but the unit will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich's device to ascertain if any further infractions have occurred."

'Nobody is above the rules'

When interviewed in April by the AIU, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, could not provide an explanation for the failed test.

While the substance has a lowest detectable limit of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in samples, the athlete's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3800 ng/mL.

Small amounts of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a sample collected from Chepngetich 14 days prior, on 28 February.

At a later interview on 11 July, Chepngetich was shown the aforementioned questionable proof acquired from her mobile. Meanwhile, accidental exposure had also been disproven by the AIU.

Chepngetich altered her story on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick 48 hours prior to the failed test.

The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the new version of events" and, in the framework 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 Chepngetich admitted the anti-doping breaches within the specified 20-day period.

The three-year ban commenced on 19 April - when Chepngetich agreed to a voluntary provisional suspension - with the competitor's performances, honors, titles, participation and earnings since 14 March lost.

"Nobody is exempt from regulations."

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

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