Kenyan record holder in the 10 kilometer road race, Rhonex Kipruto, has been banned for six years for doping and his world record has been scrapped, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Wednesday.
Kipruto was banned until May 10, 2029 after the AIU disciplinary board ruled that “irregularities in his Biological Passport for Athletes (ABP) were the result of doping.”
The tribunal rejected Kipruto’s defense, concluding that the “cause for the abnormalities in the ABP is more likely to be due to blood manipulation” and that there was “no other plausible explanation”.
The 24-year-old was provisionally suspended on May 11 last year after irregularities were discovered in his biological passport from July 2018.
ABP monitoring selects biological variables in athletes over time and allows sanctions without a positive doping test in case of unanimity of a panel of experts.
Kipruto won the bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2019 world championships in Doha.
He set the 10km record of 26 minutes and 24 seconds in Valencia in 2020, but finished a disappointing ninth in the 10,000 meters at the 2021 Olympics.
The AIU has canceled all athlete results between September 2, 2018 and May 11, 2023.
As a result, Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi’s becomes the new world record holder in the 10km with a time of 26 minutes and 33 seconds last year.
Kenyan endurance athletes have been the source of numerous doping cases in recent years.
The AIU, an independent body that has been mainly responsible for testing and research since 2017, denounced large-scale doping in the country last year.
