Ruth Chepngetich ran the 2024 Chicago Marathon on a flat, fast loop through 29 neighbourhoods and set the women’s marathon world record at 2:09:56.
The Kenyan runner broke the previous mark of 2:11:53, set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in Berlin in 2023.
Chicago has hosted multiple world records.
Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 still sits in the record books.
That record now carries the weight of what came after. In 2025, Chepngetich tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, a prohibited diuretic, and was suspended. She received a three-year ban in October 2025 after admitting anti-doping rule violations.
Emily Sisson, the American distance runner, called the positive test ‘a punch in the gut’.
For now, the result and the ban sit alongside each other in women’s marathon history.
Brigid Kosgei, another Kenyan former world-record holder, won the Chicago Marathon in 2019 in 2:14:04. Her record lasted until Assefa’s 2:11:53 in 2023. Jacob Kiplimo, the Ugandan distance-running star who won the 2025 Chicago Marathon in 2:02:23, has also made testing commitments.
Kosgei and Kiplimo have voluntarily joined an enhanced anti-doping testing programme run by the Athletics Integrity Unit. Nike and the athletes’ management agency Rosa Associati fund the initiative. Each athlete must take at least 25 out-of-competition tests a year, with between 100 and 120 analyses of their samples. Athletes in the marathon testing pool average around six such tests annually and 12 to 16 analyses.
Other recent cases have added to the scrutiny. Lawrence Cherono received a seven-year ban in 2024 after testing positive for trimetazidine and committing additional anti-doping violations. Tiruye Mesfin received a three-year ban in September 2026 after admitting an anti-doping violation established through abnormalities in her Athlete Biological Passport.
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