Kenyan long-distance athlete becomes latest entrant in long doping list
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 09.12.25. | 18:47
He becomes the third Kenyan to be suspected for doping via ABP just this year
Kenyan long-distance runner Hillary Kipchirchir Chepkwony has been handed a provisional suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a doping rule violation.
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Chepkwony, 26, was on Tuesday, 9 December, announced to have been issued with a notice of charge, for what AIU believes is the use of a prohibited substance or method, captured by the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).
The AIU has provisionally suspended Hillary Kipchirchir Chepkwony (Kenya) for the Use of a Prohibited Substance/Method (ABP case).
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) December 9, 2025
Details here: https://t.co/Y8LF9j2VYN pic.twitter.com/DssDJWlfYz
ABP is a software programme that is used to monitor selected biological variables over time, which indirectly reveal the effects of doping, rather than attempting to detect the doping substance or method itself.
Under AIU, it is labelled as an informative tool that sits alongside direct testing, whereabouts and performance monitoring.
Implemented alongside the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS), ABP creates individual reference ranges for each athlete, with fluctuations indicating doping/use of prohibited methods.
It uses the principle that the biological markers of doping substances and their methods remain detectable in the body for longer than the substances themselves.
The suspension comes just months after Chepkwony, who is represented by Global, finished third at the Hamburg Half Marathon in June, clocking 1:01.58.
That was the only race he ran in 2025, with some of his other notable performances being a second-place finish at the Bengaluru 10K last year and a win at the Weir Venloop Half Marathon in 2023.
Chepkwony, who finished seventh at the Kenyan cross country championships last year, becomes the third Kenyan to be suspended under an ABP case, joining Benard Kibet and Diana Chepkorir.
Chepkorir was found in October to have had “abnormalities consistent with the use of a prohibited substance or method” between June and September 2024, and was handed a four-year ban for the violation.
