Kenyan marathoner Esphond Cheruiyot became the latest athlete in the country to be slapped with a ban over alleged use of prohibited substances.
The 24-year-old set a unique milestone, as his admission to doping was one of the fastest since the establishment of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), taking place just hours after he was notified.
According to AIU, Cheruiyot submitted a signed confession on the very same day he was notified of his positive test, in what was a rare occurrence in international athletics.
His case stems from the Buenos Aires International Marathon held on September 21 in Argentina, where he was making his debut in the full marathon.
He crossed the finish line in second place, with a time of 2:09:46 behind Ethiopia’s Habtamu Birlew Denekew, who won in 2:09:21. Another Kenyan, Dickson Kiptoo, came third in 2:15:06, completing the all-African podium.
During the race, the 24-year-old provided what is known as an in-competition urine sample, which was sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, for analysis.
On October 20, a month after the race, the laboratory reported the presence of Trimetazidine, a metabolic modulator classified under category S4 of the WADA 2025 Prohibited List.
A review of the Adverse Analytical Finding was done by the AIU, soon after which it confirmed that Cheruiyot did not possess a therapeutic use exemption for the substance, therefore meeting the conditions for a potential anti-doping rule violation.
Three days later, on October 23, the AIU formally notified Cheruiyot of the finding and his provisional suspension. In a remarkable turn of events, Cheruiyot did not wait for the 20-day response window to expire as he signed and returned the “Admission of Anti-Doping Rule Violations and Acceptance of Consequences” form on the same day.
Since this was his first anti-doping rule violation, IT carried a ban of four years unless the athlete could demonstrate that the violation was not intentional.
However, his unprecedented speed in admitting to the violation and accepting the sanction qualified him for a one-year reduction under anti-doping rules.
Effectively, all of Cheruiyot's results from September 21, 2025, have been quashed.
Cheruiyot becomes the latest Kenyan athlete to be slapped with a doping ban, with his plight coming days after Kenyan middle-distance runner Esther Gitahi was given a four-year ban after testing positive for Erythropoietin (EPO).
A week earlier, a higher-profile athlete, Ruth Chepng'etich, a world marathon record holder, was banned for three years after admitting to anti-doping rule violations.
