Another multiple women’s winner of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon has run afoul of doping control.
Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo, who won a second straight title Oct. 12, tested positive for the blood boosting drug EPO in an out-of-competition test Sept. 25, according to a Kenya track federation official cited in news reports Friday.
Last April, Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova was stripped of her three consecutive Chicago Marathon titles (2009-10-11) and banned two years for abnormalities in her biological passport, which contains data that can be used to identify doping.
Jeptoo’s positive came in analysis of her “A” sample. She has the right to ask for testing of the “B” sample (stored at the same time), and, should that be positive, she can appeal.
“We will wait for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to release the final ruling in this matter before addressing the athlete’s standing with the Bank of America Chicago Marathon,” race director Carey Pinkowski said in a statement Friday.
Pinkowski said earlier in October he could not comment on Shobukhova’s case because it still was in the appeals process.
The Kenyan track federation has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to combat doping. A government anti-doping task force found 32 Kenyan athletes testing positive in 2012 and 2013.
Jeptoo, who also won the last two Boston Marathons, stands to lose the $500,000 first prize as 2013-14 World Marathon majors winner if the positive is confirmed. WMM issued a statement Friday saying it had deferred the scheduled Sunday presentation of the prize.
Athletics Kenya told supersport.com it had yet to receive official notification of the situation from either the international track federation (IAAF) or World Anti-Doping Agency.
In its statement, the six-race World Marathon Majors said it is “disappointed to learn that Rita Jeptoo has apparently had an A test that proved positive for a banned substance under IAAF rules.”
Jeptoo, 33, could not be reached on Friday, but after a meeting with senior athletics officials on Thursday, she said the accusation was false.
“Those are lies,” she told reporters.
Distributed by MCT Information Services