\n<\/p>\n
Olympic and World Championships marathon gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after an out-of-competition sample tested positive for EPO.<\/b><\/p>\n
Kenyan Jepchirchir provided the sample prior to winning the Sydney Marathon on 30 August 2026.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old clocked a time of two hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds to win in Sydney.<\/p>\n
EPO, or erythropoietin, is a natural substance produced within the kidneys that stimulates the creation of new red blood cells.<\/p>\n
If injected, it is only detectable in the urine or blood for a short window of time, and increases the amount of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the muscles, in the blood stream.<\/p>\n
Jepchirchir became the Olympic women’s marathon champion at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and returned to the Japanese capital to win the World Championships in September 2025. <\/p>\n
She broke the women’s half-marathon world record in 2017 and on three occasions in 2020.<\/p>\n
In addition to Sydney, her other major wins came at the New York Marathon in 2021, the Boston Marathon in 2022 and the London Marathon in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jepchirchir won the Sydney race, which became the seventh world major in 2025, by more than three minutes from compatriot Irene Chepet Cheptai.<\/p>\n She provided the sample which tested positive for EPO while in Kenya prior to the race.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n