Ruth Chepngetich receives three-year ban for HCTZ positive test

Ruth Chepngetich, the 31-year-old Kenyan who set the women’s marathon world record in October 2024, has been banned from competition for three years after admitting an anti-doping rule violation, the Athletics Integrity Unit said Thursday. The AIU said the sanction follows a positive test for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide, or HCTZ, from a sample collected on March 14, and that Chepngetich had accepted the charges and proposed sanction.

The AIU said the March 14 urine sample contained HCTZ at about 3,800 ng/mL, far above the World Anti-Doping Agency minimum reporting limit of 20 ng/mL. HCTZ is a prescription diuretic used to treat hypertension and fluid retention, and antidoping authorities say diuretics can also be used to mask other prohibited substances. Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July after the test result and subsequently engaged with the AIU investigation.

According to the AIU, Chepngetich could not initially explain the positive result in an April interview. Investigators reviewed her medications, supplements and a forensic copy of her phone. In July she was confronted with material from her mobile device that the AIU said raised reasonable...