World and Olympic marathon champion Jepchirchir suspended after positive doping test

In a fresh hammer blow for Kenyan athletics, world marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced on Friday.

The highly-decorated 33-year-old Kenyan, who won Olympic gold in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, was suspended after an out-of-competition sample tested positive for banned blood booster EPO.

The athlete is provisionally suspended while the case is investigated, while the AIU said Jepchirchir’s out-of-competition sample had been collected in Kenya prior to her recent Sydney Marathon victory.

More than 140 Kenyan athletes, including current women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich, have been suspended or banned by the AIU since 2017.

Jepchirchir’s lauded career includes a world record in the half-marathon while she is a four-time World Marathon Major winner, having captured the Sydney Marathon (2026), the London Marathon (2024), the Boston Marathon (2022) and the New York Marathon (2021).

The decision of World Athletics to award Nairobi the 2029 world championships is likely to increase the scrutiny of the east African nation’s anti-doping policies.