Kenya’s marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir provisionally banned by AIU

Jepchirchir tested positive for banned blood booster EPO in a sample taken before her Sydney Marathon win in August.Published On 23 Oct 202623 Oct 2026Kenya’s world marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO in a sample taken before her Sydney Marathon victory, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said.The AIU added that the out-of-competition sample collected in Kenya returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO (erythropoietin), which boosts the production of red blood cells.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4‘My body is still peaking’: Kipchoge wins his first marathon in three yearslist 2 of 4Kenya’s Kandie gets seven-year ban for doping violationslist 3 of 4Nairobi to host Africa’s first World Athletics Championships in 2029list 4 of 4Kenya’s Ngetich breaks women-only half-marathon world record by a secondend of list“I can only say that I feel terrible about what happened and I think it’s only right that an athlete who uses performance enhancing drugs should be disqualified,” her agent Gianni Demadonna said in an emailed statement.Sydney Marathon organisers said they were “extremely dis...