In a fresh blow for Kenyan athletics, the women’s world marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir, has been provisionally suspended for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Friday.

The highly decorated 33-year-old, who won Olympic gold in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, was suspended after an out-of-competition sample tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO.

The athlete is provisionally suspended while the case is investigated, while the AIU said Jepchirchir’s out-of-competition sample had been collected in Kenya before her recent Sydney Marathon victory.

More than 140 Kenyan athletes, including the women’s marathon world record-holder, Ruth Chepngetich , have been suspended or banned by the AIU since 2017.

Jepchirchir’s lauded career includes a world record in the half-marathon, while she is a four-time World Marathon major winner, having captured the 2026 Sydney Marathon, the 2024 London Marathon, the 2022 Boston Marathon and the 2021 New York Marathon.

The decision of…