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The doping menace in Kenya once again reared its ugly head back, with nine athletes either suspended or banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit(AIU) this year alone.

Kennedy Kiprop Cheboror and Purity Temutai Komen became the latest entrants on AIU’s list, with the body announcing their fate yesterday. The latest announcement by AIU came less than 24 hours after they provisionally suspended marathoner Nobert Kigen for doping allegations.

In a statement, the AIU said Kigen had already been issued with a Notice of Allegation following the Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (Testosterone) a violation of Article 2.1 and Article 2.2. Kigen was among the athletes enlisted to participate in Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon but was a no-show following the development.

Kenya’s Benson Kipruto won the Tokyo race in a course record time of 2:02:16, leading a Kenyan clean sweep of the medals that had Timothy Kiplagat (2:02:55) and Vincent Kipkemoi (2:04:18).

Yesterday, Cheboror was put on provisional suspension for whereabouts failures, while Temutai was banned for six years after the prohibited Norandrosterone was found in her sample. The ban has been backdated to July 6, 2023, when she was initially put on suspension.

Temutai won the Istanbul half marathon in 2023. The two join a growing list that includes 2017 Tokyo women’s marathon winner Sarah Chepchirchir.