The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the anti-doping arm of the World Athletics Federation, has suspended Kenyan 10-kilometer road running world record-holder, Rhonex Kipruto, for allegedly using a banned substance or method.
In a statement announcing the suspension on Wednesday, the AIU said 23-year-old Kipruto had been notified of a charge relating to irregularities in his biological passport.
The biological passport is detected as possible irregularities in blood values assessed over time without an athlete testing positive for a banned substance.
Kipruto who also won a bronze medal in the 10,000-meter race at the 2019 world championships, has, however, denied using the substance.
In a statement by Kipruto’s management company, the AIU informed the athlete that the alleged irregularities in his biological passport dated back to late 2018, before he won bronze at the world championship and set the 10K road record.
Kipruto broke the world 10km record when he ran 26 minutes and 24 seconds in Valencia, Spain in January, 2020.
Before then, he had won the world junior 10,000m title in 2018 in Tampere, Finland, before winning bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Kipruto’s suspension is coming three weeks after another Kenyan top athlete, Nicholas Kosimbei was provisionally suspended for testing positive to prohibited substance, Trimetazidine.