Two-time national cross country champion Sheila Chelangat has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a doping violation.
Chelangat, 27, tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO), a banned blood-boosting substance commonly used by endurance athletes to enhance performance by stimulating red blood cell production.
The AIU flagged the Rosa Associati-managed athlete shortly after a string of strong performances. Chelangat had recently finished second at the Istanbul Half Marathon on April 27 in Turkey and earlier placed second at the Bank of China Hong Kong Half Marathon on January 5. Notably, she won the Istanbul race in 2023.
In January, Chelangat returned from Hong Kong to reclaim the National Police Service Cross Country title she last won in 2020, triumphing at the Ngong Racecourse on January 17.
Chelangat is not the only member of her family caught in doping controversy. Her younger sister, Faith Chepkoech, 21, was banned for three years in September 2024 after admitting to EPO use.
Chepkoech had tested positive following an out-of-competition test conducted in Iten, Kenya, on July 26, 2024. In an interview with AIU officials on September 13, she admitted to being injected with an unknown substance by a person she could not identify, just days before the test.
Chelangat’s athletics career has seen her shine at various levels. She won bronze in the 3,000m at the 2015 World Under-18 Championships and placed sixth over the same distance at the 2016 World Under-20 Championships.
In 2017, she finished fourth in the women’s under-20 category at the World Cross Country Championships in Uganda.
Interestingly, the men’s winners of the national cross country titles in 2020 and 2021—Kibiwott Kandie and Rogers Kwemoi respectively—have also faced AIU sanctions for doping violations.
Kandie, a former half marathon world record holder, was flagged in March this year for evading, refusing, or failing to submit to sample collection. His case remains ongoing. At the time, he had just secured his fifth Kenya Defence Forces Cross Country title.
Kwemoi, the 2016 World Under-20 10,000m champion, was banned for six years in May 2023 for abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), suggesting the use of blood boosters.
In addition to the ban, the 27-year-old was stripped of all titles, records, and earnings accrued between July 18, 2016, and August 8, 2023. He was also ordered to pay World Athletics $3,000 (over KSh393,000) in prosecution costs after losing his appeal.
In the past month, AIU has banned four more Kenyan distance runners for doping violations involving 19-Norandrosterone and Triamcinolone acetonide, totaling nine years in suspensions.
Purity Changwony received a two-year and three-month ban, Nehemiah Kipyegon was suspended for three years, while Brian Kipsang and Emmanuel Kipchumba Kemboi were handed two-year bans each.
