Kipyokei loses Boston Marathon title as more Kenyans banned for doping
Diana Kipyokei of Kenya crosses the finish line to win the 125th Boston Marathon on October 11, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts.
What you need to know:
- Lonyangata, who went on to defend his Paris Marathon title in 2018, before finishing third in 2019, was suspended January 24, this year for the use of Furosemide.
- Lonyangata was named in the provisional marathon team for the 2019 World Athletics Championships but later withdrew due to an injury.
The 2021 Boston Marathon champion Diana Kipyokei and 2017 Paris Marathon champion Purity Rionoripo have been handed heavy bans for using performance enhancing substances.
Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU) Tuesday slapped Kipyokei with a six-year suspension after she tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide as well as tampering with a part of the doping control.
Rionoripo has been given a five-year ban after she was found guilty of using furosemide and also tampering with a part of the doping control.
Kipyokei’s ineligibility starts from June 27 this year and her results dating back to October 11, last year have been disqualified.
AIU has also officially charged Betty Wilson Lempus whom they had provisionally suspended alongside Kipyokei in October this year.
Lempus, 31, has been flagged down for the presence of a prohibited triamcinolone acetonide besides tampering with doping control.
Lempus finished fifth at the Prague Marathon in 2:24:16 last year before winning the Paris Half Marathon in 1:05:46 the same year.
She also finished third at Shanghai International Marathon in 2:23:40 in 2018, a year after winning the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands and Hengshui Lake Marathon in China.
On Monday, former national 100m record holder Mark Otieno and two other distance runners were handed various bans for taking performance enhancing substances.
Otieno was barred from competing in the men's 100m during the Tokyo Olympic Games after testing positive for a banned substance.
Alice Jepkemboi Kimutai, who won Porto Marathon on November 6, this year and Kigali International Peace Marathon silver medallist Johnstone Kibet Maiyo were banned for three years each.
The Boston Athletic Association is now set to strip Kipyokei of her title and the rankings and prize money adjusted.
Kipyokei, the 2020 Istanbul Marathon winner, had won the 125th Boston Marathon in two hours, 24 minutes and 45 seconds on October 11, last year.
Two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat, who finished second in the race in two hours, 25 minutes and 09 seconds, will now be declared the new winner.
Kiplagat’s compatriots Mary Ngugi and Monicah Ngige will also get an upgrade to silver and bronze with their times of 2:25:20 and 2:25:32 respectively and their prize money also be improved.
Kiplagat, who won Boston for the first time in 2017 before finishing second in 2019, is the only Kenyan woman invited for next year’s Boston Marathon on April 17.
The 29-year-old Rionoripo will serve her ban from November 21, this year and her results dating back to May 30, this year have been scrapped.
Rionoripo has not competed this year and last took to the road last year when she won Prague Marathon in 2:20:14 on May 30.
Rionoripo came to the limelight when she won the 29017 Paris Marathon alongside her hubby Paul Lonyangata in what hit the headlines as a victory of love brewed in the city of love.
Lonyangata, who went on to defend his Paris Marathon title in 2018, before finishing third in 2019, was suspended January 24, this year for the use of Furosemide.
Lonyangata was named in the provisional marathon team for the 2019 World Athletics Championships but later withdrew due to an injury.
