The case of Peres Jepchirchir, Olympic marathon champion in Tokyo 2021 and world champion in 2025, adds new details. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced her provisional suspension after detecting EPO in an out-of-competition sample collected on July 17 in Kenya, before her victory at the Sydney Marathon.
The journalist Jonathan Gault, of LetsRun, has published the account by Gianni Demadonna, the athlete’s representative, about the circumstances of that doping test. According to his version, the officers tasked with collecting the sample had trouble gaining access to Jepchirchir’s home because the security guard did not permit them to enter.
Two hours of waiting and a warning call
The controllers had been waiting for about two hours when a representative of the AIU in Kenya called Demadonna to warn that they would have to take action if the athlete continued not to open the door.
“After two hours, a person from the AIU in Kenya called me and said: ‘If Peres does not open the door, we have to take action. She will be sanctioned with two years,'” the agent told LetsRun.
Demadonna then called Jepchirchir to ask why she hadn’t opened. According to the conversation he reproduced, the athlete replied that she hadn’t done it because they hadn’t said who they were.
“Why don’t you open the door?” her agent asked. “Because they haven’t said who they are”, she replied. Demadonna insisted that they were anti-doping controllers and asked her to let them in to avoid a possible disqualification.
Finally, the officials were able to access the residence and collect the sample that subsequently yielded an adverse analytical finding for EPO. The account of the two-hour wait comes from the athlete’s representative, while the positive result corresponds to the analysis of the sample. The provisional suspension does not yet constitute a definitive sanction.
A new case in Kenyan athletics
Jepchirchir, 33, is one of the most decorated marathon runners of her generation. In addition to Olympic gold, she has won the New York, Boston, London, and Sydney marathons, and she was crowned world champion in Tokyo 2025. Her Sydney victory could be affected if the procedure concludes with a sanction that implies overturning that result.
The case once again highlights the problem of doping in Kenya, which in recent years has accumulated numerous suspensions and sanctions against elite athletes. Sports authorities have strengthened their measures against this practice, while World Athletics maintains oversight of a historic powerhouse in long-distance running. The outcome of Jepchirchir’s case will be another relevant episode in the effort to restore confidence in the Kenyan marathon.
