Kenyan marathoners banned for doping

Kenya remains a Category A nation in the WADA list of countries whose athletes are at the highest risk of doping

Nairobi: Kenya’s female marathoner Judith Jerubet, who took bronze at the 2024 Wuhan Marathon, has been banned for two years for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said.

At the same time, 2024 Lima Marathon men’s silver medalist Daniel Muindi was banned for three years for doping, according to the World Athletics anti-doping body. Jerubet, 35, has been banned for the presence of the banned substance triamcinolone acetonide, a corticosteroid commonly used in skincare, in her system, reports Xinhua.

---

In Wuhan, Jerubet ran 2:27:38 on March 24 to close the podium behind Ethiopia’s Mare Dibaba (2:25:12) and fellow Kenyan Pauline Korikwiang (2:26:40). However, that result was canceled after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited lab in Beijing returned an adverse analytical finding in her urine sample collected at the race.

According to the AIU, Jerubet didn’t explain or respond to the banned substance, even with extended deadlines. Jerubet was treated as a first-time offender, and the AIU could not find evidence she had doped intentionally.

“A period of ineligibility of two years commencing on June 7, 2024 (the date of provisional suspension) and disqualification of the athlete’s results on and since March 24, 2024, with all resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any medals, awards, points, prizes, prize money and appearance money,” AIU said in its judgment posted on their website.

Muindi, 29, a five-time half-marathon winner in India and Poland, has been barred from using norandrosterone after a urine sample collected at the Lima Marathon in Peru on May 19 tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid. Muindi ran 2:12:53 for silver behind countryman Dominic Letting (2:11:48) in Peru.

However, the AIU announced that it had spared Muindi, who has a lifetime best of 62:05 in the half marathon, from the mandatory four-year ban for the serious doping offence since he was a first-time offender, and he did not contest the Anti-Doping Rules Violation charge brought against him.

Kenya remains a Category A nation in the WADA list of countries whose athletes are at the highest risk of doping, a status that has seen its competitors to major events such as the forthcoming Olympics in France given stringent conditions before they are entered.

Athletes wishing to represent the country at these events must be registered in a testing pool and undergo at least three mandatory, no-notice out-of-competition tests in the 12 months preceding the championship for them to be entered.