Marathon World Champion Peres Jepchirchir Provisionally Suspended
The Athletics Integrity Unit says a sample taken before her Sydney Marathon win tested positive for EPO. She can contest the finding and has not been found guilty.
Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning world and former Olympic marathon champion, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which said October 23 that an out-of-competition sample collected in Kenya before her recent Sydney Marathon win returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO, Canadian Running reports.
A provisional suspension is not a finding of guilt. It bars her from competing while the case is resolved, and she can respond to the allegation and present evidence through the disciplinary process. If she is ultimately sanctioned, results including her Sydney win could be forfeited.
Jepchirchir, 33, won Sydney in 2:18:31 in her first race of 2026 after withdrawing from the London Marathon with an injury. She won the 2025 world championship marathon in Tokyo, Olympic gold in 2021, and the New York City, Boston and London marathons, and ran her personal best of 2:14:43 in Valencia last December.
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