Ex-Tokyo marathon winner Chepchirchir banned eight years for doping

Sarah Chepchirchir became the latest Kenyan athlete to be banned for doping, receiving an eight-year suspension on Wednesday after she tested positive for a banned substance for the second time.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said in a statement the 39-year-old 2017 Tokyo marathon champion had tested positive for testosterone in a sample after she finished second in the Chonburi Marathon in Thailand last November.

Chepchirchir failed to respond to the charge before the deadline which the AIU took to be an admission she had broken the doping rules.

She had failed to respond also when set a deadline to have her B sample tested.

“The AIU confirms by this decision the following Consequences for the Athlete’s second Anti-Doping Rule Violation: a period of Ineligibility of eight (8) years commencing on 22 December 2023 until 21 December 2031.

“The disqualification of the Athlete’s results on and since 5 November 2023, with all resulting Consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points prizes and appearance money.

“The Athlete is deemed to have accepted the above Consequences and to have waived her right to have those Consequences determined by the Disciplinary Tribunal at a hearing.”

She had previously been banned for four years in 2019 because of abnormalities in her athlete blood passport.

Nearly 100 Kenyan athletes, mainly long-distance runners, have now been banned over the past five years.