Olympic Marathon Champion Jepchirchir Suspended Over Failed Drug Test

Kenyan marathon runner Peres Jepchirchir, an Olympic and world championships gold medallist, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after an out-of-competition sample tested positive for EPO, the AIU has announced.

Jepchirchir, 33, gave the sample in Kenya before she won the Sydney Marathon on 30 August 2026. She completed the race in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds.

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a hormone naturally produced by the kidneys that stimulates the production of red blood cells. When injected, it is detectable in urine or blood only for a short period and increases the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the bloodstream.

Jepchirchir won the women’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and returned to Tokyo in September 2025 to win the world championships title. She set the women’s half-marathon world record in 2017 and broke it three more times in 2020.

Her major marathon victories include New York in 2021, Boston in 2022 and London in 2024. Sydney became the seventh world major in 2025, and Jepchirchir won it by more than three minutes ahead of fellow Kenyan Irene Chepet Cheptai.

The provisional suspension means Jepchirchir is barred from competition while the case proceeds.