Former World half marathon record holder Abraham Kiptum has been banned for four years over an anti-doping violation, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said. The AIU, which oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping, had provisionally suspended the 30-year-old on April 26 for an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) violation. The passport uses blood tests to detect the likelihood of doping rather than testing for specific substances. Kiptum’s four-year ban commences from that date and all his results going back to Oct. 13, 2018 — including a half marathon world record (58 minutes and 18 seconds) that he had set in Valencia later that month — have been disqualified. Kiptum’s compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor broke the world half-marathon record by 17 seconds in Copenhagen in September.

Source: The Star November 12, 2019 10:00 UTC