Marathoner Rita Jeptoo, 45, receives second doping ban 12 years apart
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Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 02.03.26. | 22:00
Her previous four-year ban expired in 2018 after which she quietly returned to racing
Former Boston and Chicago Marathon champion Rita Jeptoo, who was banned for Erythropoietin (EPO) back in 2014, has been suspended again by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK).
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Jeptoo's suspension, for the 'presence of prohibited substance/s S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS)', is dated Tuesday, 16 December 2025, and ADAK has provided no further details about the new case.
She tested positive for EPO in September 2014 through her ‘A’ sample, which she had provided in Kenya two weeks before winning in Chicago.
The 2014 Boston and Chicago Marathon champion received a two-year ban from Athletics Kenya, which was later increased to four years following an IAAF (now World Athletics) appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
On 21 April 2015, CAS announced it had received two separate appeals pertaining to the ban. One, from Jeptoo, asked that the challenged decision be set aside, and the two-year suspension be lifted.
The second was from the IAAF, who requested that Jeptoo's ban be increased to four years due to aggravating circumstances, which it argued warranted an extended period of ineligibility.
On 26 October 2016, CAS upheld an appeal from the IAAF against the leniency of the two-year ban given by Athletics Kenya, and instead set a four-year ban, and the annulling of all results after 17 April 2014, including her wins in the 2014 Boston and Chicago marathon, where she had set a course record of 2:18:57, citing "her deceptive and obstructive conduct throughout the proceedings" as aggravating factors justifying the maximum penalty.
CAS determined she had concealed visits to the doctor who supplied her EPO.
After her ban expired in October 2018, Jeptoo quietly returned to racing, running at least two marathons in 2022 and winning the 2024 Zaragoza Marathon in Spain in 2:38:12 at age 43.
