Reigning world marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir provisionally suspended for EPO doping

Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir, reigning world marathon champion and Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, was provisionally suspended after analyzes showing traces of EPO, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Friday, October 23. The 33-year-old athlete was tested "ahead of the Sydney marathon", which she won on August 30, specifies the AIU.

Crowned world champion in Tokyo in 2025, and former half-marathon world record holder, Peres Jepchirchir notably won the London (2024), Boston (2022) and New York (2021) marathons. A powerhouse in world athletics, particularly in the long and middle distance, Kenya finished second in the general ranking at the World Athletics Championships in the Japanese capital behind the United States, with a haul of 11 medals (7 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).

140 Kenyan athletes doped since 2017

But the country has also been facing an increase in doping cases for several years: more than 140 Kenyan athletes, including marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich, have been suspended or banned from all competition for having used banned products since 2017.

Kenya, which has just obtained the organization of the World Athletics Championships in 2029 - the first to be held in Africa -, must be exemplary in the fight against doping, warned Witold Banka, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on October 6. “These championships will help us in this quest” for cleaner Kenyan athletics, Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, the international athletics federation, responded to AFP during an exchange with the press on October 14.