Editor's Review
Kenyan marathon star Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
Kenyan marathon star Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
In a statement on Friday, October 23, the agency said the decision was arrived at after an out-of-competition sample collected in Kenya tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), a substance associated with enhancing athletic performance.
The AIU confirmed that the reigning world champion and former Olympic champion had returned an adverse analytical finding for the prohibited substance.
"The AIU has provisionally suspended reigning World and former Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir, after an out-of-competition sample, collected in Kenya prior to her recent Sydney Marathon victory, returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO," the statement read.
Jepchirchir is a former world record-holder in the half-marathon and a four-time winner of major marathons.
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Her victories include the Sydney Marathon in 2026, the London Marathon in 2024, the Boston Marathon in 2022 and the New York Marathon in 2021.
The Sydney Marathon organisers also expressed disappointment following the announcement, confirming that the sample in question had been collected before the race held on August 30.
"The TCS Sydney Marathon presented by ASICS is extremely disappointed to learn that Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), after an out-of-competition sample collected in Kenya prior to the TCS Sydney Marathon, held on 30 August 2026, returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO," the organisers said in a statement.
Despite the development, the organisers emphasised that Jepchirchir remained entitled to due process and said they would refrain from making further comments while the case was being handled.
"Jepchirchir is entitled to due process, and we will make no further comment on the case until that process has concluded," the statement added.
The organisers further highlighted the potential consequences of a doping violation under the Abbott World Marathon Majors rules.
"Under Abbott World Marathon Majors rules, any athlete banned for a doping offence of three months or more is banned for life from all eight Majors," the statement further read.
A provisional suspension is an interim measure pending the conclusion of the applicable anti-doping process and does not, by itself, constitute a final determination of an anti-doping rule violation.
This comes weeks after Kenyan marathoner Philemon Kiplimo Kimaiyo was handed a two-year ban after admitting to anti-doping rule violations following an adverse analytical finding for Chlortalidone.
In a statement on Monday, September 28, the AIU said the case stems from an out-of-competition urine sample provided by the athlete on July 19, 2026 in Mwaita, Kenya, during testing conducted under the Testing Authority of World Athletics and the AIU.
The sample initially recorded a specific gravity (SG) of 1.002, below the 1.003 level required for a sample to be suitable for analysis under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI).
According to the AIU, on July 29, 2026, the WADA-accredited laboratory in Paris, France, reported an adverse analytical finding in the sample after detecting Chlortalidone.
"Chlortalidone is a Prohibited Substance under the WADA 2026 Prohibited List under the category S5. Diuretics and Masking Agent It is a Specified Substance prohibited at all times," the statement added.
The AIU subsequently reviewed the finding under Article 5 of the International Standard for Results Management (ISRM).
It established that the athlete did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for Chlortalidone and found no apparent departure from the ISTI or the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL) that could reasonably have caused the adverse analytical finding.
