Kenyan long-distance runner, Kipkorir given four-year ban

Kenyan long-distance runner Japhet Kipkorir has been given a four-year ban after testing positive for the prohibited substance nandrolone.

The positive sample was provided during an in-competition test at the Nanjing Marathon on November 10 2019. 

Kipkorir was informed of the positive test on May 11 and given a four-year suspension. 

He was given the chance to explain the presence of nandrolone in his sample, but admitted committing an unintentional anti-doping violation on June 5, accepting the proposed consequences.

Kipkorir’s results from November 10 will be disqualified, including his fifth place finish at the Nanjing Marathon. 

The 29-year-old’s second place result from last October’s Amman Marathon in Jordan is set to remain. 

Kipkorir joins a long list of Kenyan athletes currently serving doping bans, with the country featuring in the Athletics Integrity Unit’s (AIU) list of countries considered to have the highest doping risk to athletics.

According to the AIU, more than 45 Kenyans who compete in athletics are currently serving suspensions.

High-profile runners Asbel Kiprop, Cyrus Rutto and Abraham Kiptum were all handed four-year bans last year.

Wilson Kipsang, who once held the marathon world record, was provisionally suspended earlier this year, with 2017 London Marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru provisionally suspended in April and charged with using a prohibited substance by the AIU.