Rhonex Kipruto. Photo/courtesy.
Kenya’s long distance runner Rhonex Kipruto has been banned for six years for doping charges, adding to the country’s alarming toll.
The 24-year-old was handed the order by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on Wednesday, meaning he will lose his 10-year road racing record and bronze at the World Championships.
Kipruto, who won the 10,000 metres bronze in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, had been provisionally suspended for an anti-doping violation in May last year and is now banned until May 2029.
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Kipruto broke the 10km road race world record in 2020 in Valencia and won the 10,000 metres at the 2019 Stockholm Diamond League, achievements that are now null and void. The Disciplinary Court decided that there was something wrong with Kipruto’s athletes’ passport (ABP), which shows differences that could reveal the effects of doping.
“The court rejected Kipruto’s defense, concluding that ‘the cause of ABP damage may be due to blood processing, such as the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO),” said the IAU on its decision, adding that there is no other reasonable explanation for the negative values.
Kipruto had denied the accusation of violation of anti -doping rules (ADRV), but the panel said that it was “comfortably satisfied” that the Kenyan was involved in a deliberate and sophisticated doping regime over a long period.”
Kipruto can always call on the Sport Arbitration Court and ask for an appeal. The athletes joined a long list of long-term lists for a serious mistake.
His stops come only one day when Kenya’s company has stopped 33 players and women for allowing tests.
