Peres Jepchirchir won the Sydney Marathon on August 30 , adding another major victory to an already stacked résumé. On Friday, however, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced a development that could have major consequences for what comes next in her career.

“The AIU has provisionally suspended reigning World and former Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir, after an out-of-competition sample, collected in Kenya prior to her recent Sydney Marathon victory, returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO,” the organization said .

At this point, the AIU announcement isn’t a final ruling that Jepchirchir committed an anti-doping violation, and the case still has to work through the formal process.

Jepchirchir has spent years collecting titles across multiple distances. She won Olympic marathon gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games, then returned to Japan four years later to win the world marathon championship.…