Olympic and world marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir has received a provisional suspension following a positive drug test for the banned substance EPO, as announced by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Friday.
Jepchirchir, who claimed the women’s marathon gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and secured the world title last year, is also a former world record holder in the half marathon.
The Athletics Integrity Unit, responsible for investigating doping cases in track and field on behalf of the sport’s governing body World Athletics, revealed that an out-of-competition sample taken in Kenya before Jepchirchir’s recent victory in the Sydney Marathon showed an adverse analytical result for EPO.
Notably, Jepchirchir emerged victorious in the Sydney Marathon held in August.
This incident adds to a string of doping instances involving long-distance runners from Kenya, a country that was granted the 2029 world track championships just last month.