The Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced Kenyan Rhonex Kipruto’s six-year suspension to five years.
Kipruto holds the world record for the 10km road race at 26:24, which he set in 2020 at the Valencia 10K. He ran what is now the ninth-fastest half-marathon all-time at 57:49 in Valencia, 11 months after his 10km record performance. The half-marathon made him the third-fastest man all-time, over the distance. He is now the sixth fastest.
In 2024, Kipruto was banned for six years for a “deliberate and sophisticated doping regime.” His race results since September 2018 have been disqualified, including the half-marathon performance. However, according to his World Athletics profile, the 10km world road record stands.
Media release
Lausanne, 16 April 2026 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has partially upheld an appeal by long-distance runner Rhonex Kipruto (Kenya) against World Athletics (WA). Mr. Kipruto’s period of ineligibility following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) has been reduced from six years to five years.
On 28 May 2024, Rhonex Kipruto was sanctioned with a six-year period of ineligibility by the WA Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Disciplinary Tribunal, which found that irregularities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) resulted from doping. Mr Kipruto denied the ADRV charge, contending that his ABP abnormalities were due to multiple factors such as natural and specific characteristics of his body, various medical conditions and health conditions. The Disciplinary Tribunal rejected Mr Kipruto’s defence, concluding the “cause for the abnormalities in the ABP is more likely to be due to blood manipulation”.
Mr. Kipruto filed an appeal with CAS in June 2024, requesting to set aside the decision by the AIU Disciplinary Tribunal. In his appeal, the Athlete argued that he did not commit an ADRV and no period of ineligibility should be imposed.
Following the exchange of written submissions between Parties, a hybrid hearing was held at CAS headquarters in Lausanne on 13 and 14 November 2025. The Athlete attended remotely.
The CAS Panel considered the scientific evidence and expert opinions submitted by the Parties and found that the Athlete’s blood profile was the result of blood manipulation, constituting a doping infraction. The Panel were also of the view that the diagnostic requirements for the medical condition that the Athlete put forward as explanation were not made out. Consequently, they found that Mr Kipruto committed an ADRV as alleged by WA.
The Panel also reviewed the six-year period of ineligibility that was imposed, made up of four years for an intentional ADRV plus two years for aggravating circumstances. The aggravating circumstances submitted by World Athletics included several instances of blood doping and that the Athlete engaged in a deliberate and sophisticated doping regime. The Panel determined that, bearing in mind the principle of proportionality, the aggravating circumstances warrant an additional period of ineligibility of one year instead of two. The sanction has therefore been reduced to a five-year period of ineligibility.
The Athlete’s results remain disqualified from 2 September 2018 to 11 May 2023, the start date of his provisional suspension.
