Reigning marathon world champion Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for erythropoietin (EPO), a banned performance-enhancing substance.
In a statement issued on Friday, October 23, the AIU said the Kenyan athlete returned an adverse analytical finding from a sample collected ahead of her victory at the Sydney Marathon.
The sample tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing substance that boosts red blood cell production, thereby increasing the amount of oxygen the blood can transport around the body.
The adverse finding prompted the provisional suspension of the 33-year-old athlete.
“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 AIU said.
The suspension was announced a day after the agency imposed a six-year ban on Ethiopia’s former Tokyo Marathon champion Ruti Aga for testing positive for methylprednisolone and interfering with the investigation.
Jepchirchir boasts an impressive record in long-distance running, having won four World Marathon Majors. These include victories in the Sydney Marathon (2026), the London Marathon (2024), the Boston Marathon (2022) and the New York Marathon (2021).
She is also a former half-marathon world record holder and the Olympic marathon champion from the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Jepchirchir pulled out of this year’s London Marathon after suffering a stress fracture, having finished second at the Valencia Marathon last December. She later returned to elite competition at the Sydney Marathon.
The Kenyan runner is currently ranked fifth in the world.
Peres Jepchirchir’s Athletic Career
Jepchirchir made her marathon debut at the age of 20 during a Kisumu Marathon, although she had initially intended to compete in the 10km race.
“I was going there for the 10k, and then I arrived, and the 10k was only for people from that area,” she recalls. “I remember it a lot because I ran that first marathon without any long runs,” she told World Athletics.
Competing at Kisumu’s altitude, Jepchirchir finished third in 2:47:33, a time more than 30 minutes slower than her current personal best.
She went on to win the World Half Marathon Championships in 2016 and 2020.
Her time of 1:05:06, recorded in the United Arab Emirates on February 10, 2017, became a former world record in the half marathon.
In 2020, Jepchirchir won the Valencia Marathon in 2:17:16, securing her place on Kenya’s marathon team.
She subsequently claimed victory at the 2021 New York City Marathon in 2:22:39 before winning the 2022 Boston Marathon in a course-record time of 2:21:02. She also finished third at the 2023 London Marathon.
In 2022, Jepchirchir made history by becoming the first woman to win Olympic, New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon titles.
