10km world record holder Rhonex Kipruto provisionally suspended for doping

The athletics fraternity in the country was on Wednesday afternoon hit with a bombshell after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed a provisional suspension to Kenya’s World 10km record holder Rhonex Kipruto for the use of a Prohibited Substance/Method (ABP).

In an official statement posted on their social media platforms, AIU made the shocking announcement that added onto Kenya’s spiraling doping cases.

“The AIU has provisionally suspended Rhonex Kipruto (Kenya) for the use of a Prohibited Substance/Method (ABP),” the statement read.

Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) is the monitoring of selected biological parameters over time that may indirectly reveal effects of doping on the body.

This approach allows anti-doping organisations to generate individual, longitudinal profiles for each athlete and to look for any fluctuations that may indicate the use of performance-enhancing drugs or methods.

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The provisional suspension therefore means the athlete is suspended temporarily from participating in any competition or activity in athletics prior to a final decision at a hearing that will be conducted under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct.

The news of the provisional suspension comes as blow to the 23 year old Kipruto who has had a steady rise in his career.

Back at the 2018 World U20 Championships held in Tampere, Finland, Kipruto won the 10000m title after beating Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo and Berihu Aregawi from Ethiopia.

He went on to claim bronze in the 2019 World Championships held in Doha in a race won by Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finishing second.

On 12 January 2020, Kipruto set a 10 km road race world record in Valencia with a time of 26:24, beating the former world record that had been set by Cheptegei in Valencia on 1 December 2019 (26:38).

Kipruto was expected to feature at the 14th edition of the TCS World 10K Bengaluru set for Sunday 21 May in Bengaluru, India but the latest news effectively rules him out from taking part in the World Athletics Gold Label competition.

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