What the Athletics Integrity Unit announced
Peres Jepchirchir, the Kenyan who won marathon gold at the Tokyo Olympics and the world title in 2025, has been provisionally suspended after an out-of-competition sample produced an adverse analytical finding for EPO, the Athletics Integrity Unit said. The AIU oversees doping matters in international track and field. A provisional suspension can be imposed while a case is still awaiting the hearing that will settle its final outcome.[S1][S2]
The sample at the center of the case was collected in Kenya before Jepchirchir raced the Sydney Marathon on Aug. 30, 2026, which she won. According to the BBC, she covered the course in two hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds, finishing more than three minutes ahead of her Kenyan compatriot Irene Chepet Cheptai. Sydney became the seventh world major marathon in 2025.[S1][S2]
A career built on major marathon titles
Now 33, Jepchirchir became Olympic marathon champion at the Tokyo Games held in 2020 and later returned to the Japanese capital to take the world title in September 2025. Her record at the major marathons includes victories in New York City in 2021, Boston in 2022 and London in 2024. She also set a women's half-marathon world record in 2017 and lowered it three more times during 2020.[S1][S2]
What EPO is and what comes next
EPO, or erythropoietin, occurs naturally in the kidneys and prompts the body to make new red blood cells. When injected, it can be detected in urine or blood only for a brief period, and it raises the volume of oxygen-carrying red cells in the bloodstream. Jepchirchir's representative, Gianni Demadonna, listed by World Athletics as her athlete representative, said in an email on Friday that he felt awful about the situation and argued that any athlete who turns to performance-enhancing substances deserves disqualification.[S1][S2]
