Kenyan marathon runner Lawrence Cherono has been handed a seven-year ban for breaching doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced Wednesday.
The 35-year-old runner, who won the Boston and Chicago marathons in 2019, provided an out-of-competition urine sample in May 2022 which revealed the presence of the prohibited substance trimetazidine.
“The AIU has banned Lawrence Cherono (Kenya) for 7 years from 16 July, 2022 for presence/use of a prohibited substance (trimetazidine), tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control,” the AIU said in a statement.
Cherono’s ban has been backdated to July 2022, when his provisional suspension began, meaning the Kenyan will be unable to compete until 2029.
The positive test earned the runner a four-year ban, plus an additional four years for “submitting misleading, forged/falsified information”, the AIU indicated.
The total eight-year ban was reduced by one year due to Cherono’s “early admission and acceptance of (the) sanction”.
