Kenyan loses her crown and is given a six-year ban for doping which means Boston title goes to Edna Kiplagat

Kenya’s Diana Kipyokei has been banned for six years and been stripped of her Boston Marathon title from last year after failing a drugs test and then lying to anti-doping officials.

The 28-year-old tested positive from a sample given after she won the Boston Marathon in 2021.

“That sample returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for the presence of a metabolite of triamcinolone acetonide, an anti-inflammatory,” the Athletics Integrity Unit said in a statement.

“With investigative assistance from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, the AIU discovered that Kipyokei provided false/misleading information in trying to explain her AAF, including fake documentation which she alleged came from a hospital.”

Boston Athletic Association said in a statement that Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat has been elevated to women’s winner of the 2021 race and is now recognised as a two-time Boston winner (from 2017 and 2021).

Kipyokei finished first in Boston in 2:24:45, beating countrywoman Kiplagat by 24 seconds. Kiplagat, who was 41 at the time, is now the oldest runner to win the Boston Marathon – a race that has a history that spans back to 1897.

READ MORE: 2021 Boston Marathon coverage

Kipyokei is the second Boston Marathon winner to be stripped of her title in the last 10 years after Kenyan Rita Jeptoo had her 2014 win disqualified for a failed drugs test.

Kipyokei’s drugs ban is just the latest in a spate of Kenyan doping cases. This week Purity Rionoripo, winner of the Paris Marathon in 2017, has also been banned.

Rionoripo’s ban came after the presence of the diuretic furosemide in an out-of-competition test in Kenya in May.

Like Kipyokei, the 29-year-old was found to have tried to tamper with the evidence. But due to admitting her guilt she has had one year taken off her six-year ban.

In addition another Kenyan, Betty Wilson Lempus, has been charged with a further violation, on top of the provisional suspension announced in October.

World Athletics recently chose not to ban Kenya from global competition partly because the Kenyan government has pledged to spend $5m per year to combat the problem.