Sydney Marathon Champion Peres Jepchirchir Provisionally Banned for Doping

Kenyan runner Peres Jepchirchir, the 2021 Olympic and 2025 world champion, has been provisionally banned from competition after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO. Jepchirchir, who won this year's Sydney marathon by more than 3 minutes, had a positive test in a sample taken in Kenya before the Sydney race.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced the provisional suspension on Friday, stating that the out-of-competition sample collected in Kenya returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO (erythropoietin), which boosts the production of red blood cells.

"I can only ‌say that I feel terrible about what happened and I think it's only right that an athlete who uses the performance enhancing drugs should be disqualified," her agent Gianni Demadonna said in an ‌emailed statement.

Jepchirchir is one of the most decorated women in the sport, having ⁠won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and having claimed ‌major marathon victories in New York (2021), ​Boston (2022), London (2024) and Sydney (2026). She ‌previously held the half marathon world record.

"So much of what I see ​when ‌I'm on a broadcast call I do not believe. I'm not surprised by this," said Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist and broadcaster Kara Goucher, who was a whistleblower ⁠in the Nike Oregon Project case. "I am, however, ‌sad for all the athletes ‌who finished behind her and were screwed out of a podium."

The Sydney Marathon, which ‌was added ​to the list of ⁠world majors beginning in 2025, said it was "extremely disappointed" by the news. "Our commitment to clean sport is unwavering. Every athlete who lines up in Sydney deserves to race on a level playing field," it said in a statement.

This provisional ban is the latest in a long string of doping cases involving Kenyan athletes. More than 140 Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned since the AIU was established in 2017.