Kenya continues to grapple with rising cases of doping, with Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres champion Kibiwott Kandie being the latest athlete to be sanctioned for doping violations.
Although the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has reported fewer doping cases in the first half of this year, the recent suspension of the country’s top athletes is worrying.
The latest statistics from ADAK indicate that 40 athletes were either banned or provisionally suspended for varying doping offences between January and June 2025.
However, the number has dropped to 23 in the same period in 2026, with ADAK attributing it to heightened education, sensitisation and increased awareness among athletes.
ADAK flagged down 76 athletes in 2025 for various doping offences. However, more remains to be done.
Athletics Kenya (AK) reckons that high cases of doping involving top Kenyan athletes in the last three years has sent the wrong signal to the world, making organisers of Diamond League races and other major road races to shun Kenyan athletes.
Kandie was touted as possible successor to legendary distance runner, Paul Tergat, but that now looks remote.
Two years ago, 2020 world half marathon silver medallist Kandie started venturing into the marathon with a view to running the major championship races. He finished sixth in 2023 Valencia Marathon, and 13th in 2024 Berlin Marathon.
Kibiwott Kandie celebrates after winning the 10,000m finals on May 24, 2023 during the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) Athletics Championship at Ulinzi Sports Complex.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
While Kandie wasn’t engaged in outright doping, his complicity and tampering with sample after being provisionally suspended in March 2025 for refusal to submit to sample collection have complicated his case.
On June 25, 2025, Athletics Integrity United (AIU) banned Kandie for seven years, starting from March 14, 2025, effectively halting the progress of the 30-year-old Kenya Defence Forces runner. He started running nine years ago.
The 2021 New York City Marathon champion, Albert Korir, was in March 2026 handed a five-year ban for using and testing positive for CERA, a banned performance enhancer, across three out-of-competition tests.
In February 2026, Bernard Kibet Koech, who represented Kenya at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was hit with a four-year ban for discrepancies in his Athlete Biological Passport.
Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepng’etich, who had shattered the women’s marathon world record with an explosive victory in 2 hours, nine minutes and 57 seconds at the 2024 Chicago Marathon, tested positive for masking agent hydrochlorothiazide on October 23, 2025. She got a reduced ban of three years after admitting to the charge.
The 2019 Boston and Chicago Marathon champion Lawrence Cherono was banned for seven years for the presence of Trimetazidine and tampering with the investigation in July 2024. He received a four-year ban for the use and presence of Trimetazidine and an additional four years for tampering with the rules. The ban was reduced by one year due to his early admission.
“The athletes now understand the rationale of clean sports and our frequent and increased testing have also acted as deterrent factors with athletes fearing to be caught,” said Head of Education and Research at ADAK, Martin Yauma.
Yauma said that pharmacists that had been supplying athletes with banned substances have been discouraged for fear of being jailed.
“That is why the cases are going down,” said Yauma, explaining that they tested 4,000 athletes between July 2023 to June 2024 with the numbers increasing to 4,200 between July 2024 and June 2025.
Yauma’s team tested 4,500 athletes between July 2025 and June 2026. In the period, Kenya held trials for international events like the 2025 World Athletics Championships trials, Kip Keino Classic and Sirikwa Classic Country Championships. AK’s director in charge of youth and development, Barnaba Korir, noted that cases affecting top athletes are worrying especially with clean athletes now bearing the brunt.
In the budget policy statement of 2026/2027, ADAK has been allocated Sh314 million but the organisation was only given Sh305 million, which is a reduction of Sh9 million.
Kenya has been in Category A of countries where doping is most prevalent since 2017. The other countries in the category are Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Bahrain.
Athletes from these countries are subjected to intense scrutiny and must undergo at least three out-of-competition tests in the 10 months prior to a major competition. One of the tests must be a blood test.
Korir noted that with Americans and Europeans now starting to dominate distance races, race organisers would prefer them rather than Kenyans.
Only four Kenyans athletes featured in the men’s 5,000m race at Paris Diamond League on Sunday, a race that used to attract over eight Kenyan athletes.
The 2022 world 5,000m silver medallist, Kenya’s Jacob Krop (12:55.22), finished second behind American Grant Fisher (12:54.80), the 2024 Paris Olympics 5,000m and 10,000m bronze medallist.
Only Edmund Serem and Abraham Kibiwott were invited in men’s 3,000m steeplechase, and Ferdinand Omanyala in 100m. There were no Kenyans in women’s 1,500m, and men and women’s 800m.
Few Kenyans were invited in the other seven Diamond Leagues races. “Whether by default or not, it will reach a time when we will not have Kenyan athletes running in Europe,” said Korir.
“We really must analyse and evaluate these trends and come with solutions to these perceptions,” explained Korir, adding that coming up with the African Athletics Series will help address some of these issues.
