Kenyan athlete Rhonex Kipruto has been hit with a six-year doping ban, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced Wednesday. The decision throws a shadow over the 24-year-old’s career, stripping him of his 2019 world championship bronze medal in the 10,000 meters and the 10km road race world record he set in 2020.
Kipruto was provisionally suspended in May 2023 after an anti-doping violation. A Disciplinary Tribunal found irregularities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), a record that monitors blood samples for signs of doping. The panel concluded these abnormalities were “more likely to be due to blood manipulation,” potentially through banned substances like erythropoietin (EPO).
The AIU determined Kipruto’s explanation for the irregularities lacked merit. They stated the tribunal was “comfortably satisfied” that Kipruto engaged in “a deliberate and sophisticated doping regime over a long period of time.”
This verdict dismantles some of Kipruto’s past achievements. His 10,000-meter bronze medal from the 2019 world championships and his record-breaking 10km road race performance in Valencia will be annulled.
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