World's best mile runner, Koech, suspended
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 12.06.25. | 07:10
Koech ran a superlative 44:04 for 10 miles in Japan two years ago, taking apart Haile Gebrselassie's previous world best of 44:24 from 2005
Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Kenya’s Benard Kibet Koech for suspected use of a banned substance in a case revolving around Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) blood value anomaly.
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The Kenyan, who holds the world 10-mile best, placed fifth in the 10,000m final at the Paris Olympics, finishing only behind Joshua Cheptegei, Berihu Aregawi, Grant Fisher and Mohammed Ahmed. He is yet to compete this season
He ran a superlative 44:04 for 10 miles in Japan two years ago, taking apart Haile Gebrselassie's previous world best of 44:24 from 2005.
He backed that time up by finishing fifth in the 10,000m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, before placing eighth in the half-marathon at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga.
His personal best of 58:45 over the half marathon came at the 2023 Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon, a race in which Koech beat compatriot Daniel Kibet Mateiko by just four seconds.
Meanwhile, Daniel Kinyanjui has been banned for five years after he tested positive for methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (CERA)—a banned blood-boosting agent—during an out-of-competition test conducted on 27 December 2024 in Keringet, Kenya.
The AIU also reported abnormalities in his ABP consistent with blood manipulation on multiple occasions.
The two join the growing list of Kenyans provisionally suspended by the AIU this year after Ronald Kimeli Kurgat, Kibiwott Kandie, and Sheila Chelangat.
