KENYA’S FORMER WORLD marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang has been banned for four years after violating anti-doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced today.
Kipsang, who claimed the world record during the 2013 Berlin marathon and is the only person to have beaten current holder Eliud Kipchoge over the distance, was found guilty of “whereabouts failures and tampering by providing false evidence and witness testimony”.
The AIU, World Athletics’ anti-doping arm, said Kipsang’s ban would run from 10 January this year, with all results dating back to April 12, 2019, to be scrubbed.
Kipsang has a fine marathon pedigree. Winner of a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, the 38-year-old police officer has won marathons in London (2012, 2014), New York (2014) and Berlin (2013) — when he set a then-world record of 2hr 3min 23sec.
Kipsang joins a long list of Kenyan distance stars who have recently fallen foul of doping rules.
Rio Olympics marathon winner Jemima Sumgong was banned for four years in 2017, followed by Olympic gold medallist and three-time 1500m world champion Asbel Kiprop.
Abraham Kiptum, once the half-marathon world record holder, was suspended for four years in November 2019 for irregularities in his biological passport, while 2017 London marathon winner Daniel Kinyua Wanjiru was banned for the same reason last April.
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