Another Kenyan long distance athlete suspended for doping
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 06.08.25. | 18:30
The ban comes just months after Kemboi etched her name into the record books by breaking the women’s half-marathon course record at the Rimi Riga Marathon in May 2024
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Kenyan long-distance runner Judy Jelagat Kemboi for the presence and use of a prohibited substance, hydrochlorothiazide, a masking agent banned under WADA's 2022 Prohibited List.
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The ban comes just months after Kemboi etched her name into the record books by breaking the women’s half-marathon course record at the Rimi Riga Marathon in May 2024.
She clocked 1:07:13, shaving 12 seconds off the previous record set by Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir.
According to the AIU, the 27-year-old athlete returned an adverse analytical finding from an out-of-competition urine sample, which tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide.
This substance, classified under S5 (Diuretics and Masking Agents), is strictly banned without a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), both in and out of competition.
Kemboi’s stellar form this year has seen her dominate international road races.
In February 2025, she claimed victory at the 31st Guadalajara Electrolit Half Marathon, clocking 1:07:44 to set a new course record.
That performance led to an all-Kenyan podium sweep, with Helah Kiprop and Janet Ruguru finishing second and third, respectively.
Her suspension is the latest in a growing list of Kenyan athletes sanctioned for doping violations, a trend that continues to tarnish the country's hard-earned reputation in long-distance running.
Among those previously banned are Titus Ekiru, who received a 10-year ban for doping and sample manipulation, and Agnes Jeruto Barsosio, banned for five years due to abnormalities in her biological passport.
Michael Kibet, a promising middle-distance runner, was suspended for four years for failing to cooperate with investigators.
The list goes on: Celestine Chepchirchir (three-year ban for testosterone), Daniel Muindi (three years for norandrosterone), and Judith Jerubet, who is serving a two-year ban after failing to contest her positive result for triamcinolone acetonide.
In 2024 alone, the AIU suspended four other Kenyan athletes, Sophy Jepchirchir, Elias Kemei, Nicholas Kosimbei, and Ibrahim Wachira, for various doping offences involving substances like testosterone, tamoxifen, and trimetazidine, with bans ranging from three to four years.
Just weeks before Kemboi's case emerged, Ruth Chepngetich, the 2023 World Marathon silver medallist, was also provisionally suspended for hydrochlorothiazide, the same substance now linked to Kemboi.
