This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
On November 5, 2019, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced that Kenya's former world half marathon record holder Abraham Kiptum had been banned for four years over an anti-doping violation.
Kiptum, a 30-year-old athlete, had been provisionally suspended on April 26 for an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) violation.
The AIU oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping, and uses blood tests to detect the likelihood of doping rather than testing for specific substances.
As a result of the ban, Kiptum's four-year ban commences from April 26, and all his results going back to October 13, 2018, have been disqualified, including a half marathon world record he had set in Valencia on October 28, 2018.
His time of 58 minutes and 18 seconds was five seconds better than the previous mark set by Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese in Lisbon in 2010.
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.
