Kenya's former world half marathon record holder Kiptum gets four-year ban for doping

Abraham Kiptum [Courtesy]

Kenya's former world half marathon record holder Abraham Kiptum has been banned for four years over an anti-doping violation, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/191105-IAAF-v-Kiptum-Decision.pdf.

The AIU, which oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping, had provisionally suspended the 30-year-old on April 26 for an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) violation.

The passport uses blood tests to detect the likelihood of doping rather than testing for specific substances.

Kiptum's four-year ban commences from that date and all his results going back to Oct. 13, 2018 -- including a half marathon world record (58 minutes and 18 seconds) that he had set in Valencia later that month -- have been disqualified.

His time was five seconds better than the previous mark set by Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese in Lisbon in 2010.

Kiptum's compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor broke the world half-marathon record by 17 seconds in Copenhagen in September.

Kenya is known for its middle and long-distance running pedigree but has suffered damage to its reputation due to a number of doping violations in recent years.