Shock as ex-world marathon record holder suspended

Former world marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang was on Friday handed a provisional suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for whereabouts failures.

The 37-year-old Kenyan marathoner was suspended "for whereabouts failures and tampering", both violations of World Athletics' anti-doping rules, the AIU announced on Twitter.

Kipsang claimed the world record when clocking 2hr 3min 23sec in the 2013 Berlin marathon.

He won the London marathon in 2012 and 2014, when he also won in New York, and he claimed bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.

The development was the latest blow for Kenyan athletics ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Kipsang joins the 2016 Rio Olympic Games marathon champion Jemimah Sumgong who was suspended in 2017 for four years for doping but the ban was later doubled to eight years in 2019 she lied and fabricated her medical records. Three-time Boston marathon champion Rita Jeptoo is also another top Kenyan banned for using prohibited substances.

Another high profile case was that of the three-time World 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop, who tested positive to Erythropoietin (Epo) in an out-of-competition in 2017 and would get a four-year ban in 2019. His appeal is still on.

In April last year, Abraham Kiptum, who had had set world half marathon record in 2018, was provisionally suspended for irregularities in his biological passport. Kiptum was already in London for the London Marathon but was hounded out of the race.

Over 40 Kenyan athletes have been suspended both by AIU and Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) in the last one year as Athletics Kenya warned in September last year that more Kenyan athletes could fall to Athletes Biological Passport (ABP) discrepancy.

This is after 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth and Africa 10,000m champion Joyce Chepkirui was suspended for ABP violation alongside long distance runner John Jacob Kibet Kendagor, who has been reprimanded for "evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection."

Chepkirui and Kendagor’s suspension cases joined other Kenyans who had been suspended, four of them owing to ABP. They are the 2017 Tokyo Marathon champion Sarah Chepchirchir, World Half Marathon record holder Abraham Kiptum and 2017 World Champions 5,000m representative Cyrus Rutto.

AIU had days earlier suspended Kenyan long-distance runner Salome Jerono Biwott. Felix Kirwa, Hilary Kepkosgei Yego, Samson Mungai Kagia and Lucy Kabuu.

On December 17, 2014, Kipsang had accused Athletics Kenya (AK) of malice after the federation disclosed he missed an out-of-competition drug test a month earlier.

Kipsang said AK breached privacy and alleged there were malicious intentions to tarnish his name for being the head of the now defunct Professional Athletics Association of Kenya.

Kipsang said he submitted all the required details on where he was after the IAAF, now World Athletics, sought to know why he missed the test.

The athlete said that on that day, he was in Nairobi with former current marathon world record holder Dennis Kimetto preparing to fly to South Africa for the Global Athletes Conference.

A statement from AK said that Kipsang missed the test on November 13, and the athlete was requested by the World Athletics to provide an explanation, which he did on November 23.

On April 14, 2015, AK moved swiftly to suspend Rosa Associati and Volare Sports for six months pending investigations into doping allegations. Kipsang, who is Volare Sports athlete, hit out at AK for suspending his agent without informing him.