The holder of the world record in the marathon, Ruth Chepngetich, was provisionally suspended for doping, after being detected with a prohibited substance in the body. The investigation is ongoing, and the Kenyan athlete risks severe sanctions.
Ruth Chepngetich was temporarily suspended for doping. Photo: Facebook
A new doping scandal is shaking the sports world, this time athletics, after Ruth Chepngetich, the holder of the world record for female marathon, was provisionally suspended by the integrity unit (AIU), being detected a prohibited substance in the body, Reuters reports.
The Kenyan athlete was tested on March 14, when hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a forbidden diuretic, was tested on the sample. According to the statement transmitted by AIU, the substance is usually used to treat liquid retention and high blood pressure, but “Diuretics can be used abusively to mask the presence of other prohibited substances in the urine.”
Brett Clothier, the chief of Aiu, said that “Ruth Chepngetich was not provisionally suspended at the time of notification, but on April 19, she opted for a voluntary provisional suspension during the AIU investigation,” adding that, in the months that followed, the investigation continued, and now “An indictment was issued and its own provisional suspension was imposed.”
Ruth Chepngetich, 30 years old, entered history last year, in October, at the Chicago Marathon, when she shot down the women’s world record, running for two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds, thus becoming the first woman to dropped below the two -hour threshold.
In April this year, Chepngetich withdrew from the London marathon, saying that he “did not feel in physical and mental form” to compete at the highest level.
The investigation is ongoing, and the athlete risks a long -term suspension if found guilty of doping.
We remind you that last month and the Romanian athlete of Kenyan origin Delvine Meringor was suspended for three years for doping, according to a decision published on the website of the Anti-Doping Agency. Delvine Meringor, who represented Romania at the Paris Olympic Games, was positively tested at five controls outside the competition, between October 2022 and August 2023.
