Ruth Chepngetich broke the previous Tigst Assefa's female marathon global best by nearly two minutes at the marathon event in Chicago in the year 2024.
Women's marathon global champion the athlete has been prohibited for 36 months after the runner acknowledged anti-doping rule violations.
Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in the seventh month following a failed test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) - a banned diuretic often utilized as a concealing drug - on 14 March.
The athlete's accomplishments which pre-date that sample - such as her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in the Chicago event in October 2024 - will remain valid.
The sports governing body had sought a four-year suspension but the runner's penalty was lowered to 36 months because she confessed to the infractions.
However, the integrity unit will keep examining evidence from Chepngetich's phone which it found indicate "strong grounds that her failed test may have been deliberate" - featuring communications dating back to the year 2022.
"This matter concerning the failed test for the substance has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the questionable evidence recovered from Chepngetich's phone to determine if any further infractions have taken place."
When interviewed in April by the AIU, Chepngetich, the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:10, was unable to give an reason for the failed test.
While HCTZ has a minimum reporting level of 20 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL) in urine, Chepngetich's sample showed an estimated concentration of 3,800 ng/mL.
Small amounts of the diuretic under the minimal reporting level were also identified in a sample taken from Chepngetich two weeks earlier, on February 28.
At a later interview on July 11, the record holder was shown the previously mentioned suspicious evidence acquired from her mobile. In the meantime, contamination had also been disproven by the AIU.
The athlete changed her explanation on July 31, claiming that she had used her domestic worker's medication - labeled as being the banned substance - after falling sick two days before the positive test.
The AIU had "major doubts about the reliability of the revised account" and, in the context of the sport's anti-doping regulations, such "carelessness" is deemed "implied intention, for which an longer 48-month penalty applies".
An standard 12-month decrease was applied after the runner admitted the doping rule violations within the 20 days required.
The three-year ban started on April 19 - when the athlete agreed to a temporary ban - with the runner's performances, awards, titles, participation and earnings from March 14 lost.
"No one is exempt from regulations."
"Although unfortunate for those who had faith in this runner, this is how the process is supposed to work."
"Marathon organizers should be praised for jointly supporting anti-doping efforts able to revealing substance abuses committed by top competitors in their races."
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