“Future gold medal winner at the Enhanced Games?”- Fans react as Ruth Chepngetich gets provisional suspension over doping test

Fans have shared their reactions after Ruth Chepngetich received a provisional suspension following a positive doping test. She was suspended after Hydrochlorothiazide, a banned substance, was detected in a test conducted on March 14 this year.

The suspension of women’s marathon world record holder and former world champion Chepngetich has left the global track and field community in shock. One fan reacted with a sarcastic comment, suggesting that Chepngetich should belong at the Enhanced Games, a proposed sports event where athletes are allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs. They said:

“Future gold medal winner at the Enhanced Games?”

Another fan said that they were not surprised by Ruth Chepngetich’s suspension, adding:

“NOT SURPRISED!”

Meanwhile, a fan suggested that more athletes are resorting to doping because track and field has become too focused on records which is pushing competitors to take extreme measures.

“This newfound obsession with records & fast times is what has gotten us here. What happened to just simple racing & letting people enjoy that? Every other race there's always a record to be broken & a fast time to be achieved & athletes are going above & beyond to hit this,” they added.

Here are some more reactions to the suspension news -

“They bout to ban the entire country from intl comp😭😭😭”, a fan commented, likely due to the rising doping cases among Kenyan competitors. “Sometimes its just really hard to be a fan of this sport”, another fan tweeted. “This sport is beginning to stress me”, another track & field fan chimed in.

Besides her world record performance in Chicago in 2024, she is also known for winning the marathon in 2021 and 2022 and finished as runner-up in 2023.

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What Ruth Chepngetich said after breaking women’s world record at Chicago Marathon 2024

Ruth Chepngetich at 2024 Chicago Marathon - Source: Getty

Ruth Chepngetich smashed the women’s world record at the Chicago Marathon with a 2:09:56 in October. With that, she surpassed the previous world record of 2:11:53 set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa at the 2023 Berlin Marathon.This meant the Kenyan improved the world record by nearly two seconds.

Following her feat in Chicago, Chepngetich expressed her thoughts in an interview with NBC Chicago, stating:

“I feel so great. I’m proud of myself and I thank God for the victory and the world record. This is my dream that has come true. I fight a lot thinking about world record and I have fulfilled it and I’m much grateful.” “The world record has come back to Kenya. I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum,” she added.

Notably, the men’s marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum tragically passed away in a car crash while driving. His coach, Gervais Hakizimana, was also a passenger in the car, who lost his life due to the accident. Reports suggested that Kiptum lost control of the car, causing it to veer off the road.

Edited by Abhiruchi Rout