WORLD RECORD HOLDER RUTH CHEPNGETICH PROVISIONALLY SUSPENDED

WORLD RECORD HOLDER RUTH CHEPNGETICH PROVISIONALLY SUSPENDED
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

(17-Jul) — Ruth Chepngetich, the 2019 World Athletics Championships marathon gold medalist who ran a world record 2:09:56 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last October, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a doping infraction.  The 30 year-old Kenyan tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a diuretic, in a urine sample collected from her on March 14 of this year.

Under AIU procedures, the athlete was issued a Notice of Charge after an investigation was launched.  Chepngetich was interviewed by AIU investigators in Nairobi on April 16 and “complied with requests regarding our investigation,” according to AIU chief Brett Clothier.

“When there is a positive test for diuretics and masking agents, a provisional suspension is not mandatory under the World Anti-Doping Code,” Clothier explained through a press release.  “Chepngetich was not provisionally suspended by the AIU at the time of notification.  However, on 19 April, she opted for a voluntary provisional suspension while the AIU’s investigation was ongoing.”  Clothier continued: “In the intervening months, the AIU continued its investigation and today issued a Notice of Charge and imposed its own provisional suspension.”

The AIU said that they would have no further comment on the case until it reached its conclusion. A diuretic does not increase performance per se, but can mask the presence of other drugs.  Hydrochlorothiazide, and other diuretics, are “banned at all times,” according to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

An HCTZ reading of 20 nanograms per milliliter in urine would be considered a negative result, but Chepngetich tested at a far higher level: 3800 ng/mL.

Although Chepngetich’s world record in Chicago was ratified by World Athletics, the mark was looked upon with doubt by at least some experts.  She slashed the previous world record by a hefty one minute and 57 seconds, and would have finished 11th in the men’s race.  She ran the first half in 1:04:16, and her halfway split was the fastest-ever half-marathon run in the United States by a woman.

Former Runners’ World editor and 1968 Boston Marathon champion Amby Burfoot was openly skeptical of Chepngetich’s performance.  Writing for marathonhandbook.com, Burfoot wrote: “Chepngetich’s…