Langat admits to committing anti-doping rule violation, gets two-year ban

One of the fastest 10km and half marathon runners in the world, Charles Kipkkurui Langat has been handed a two-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, after he admitted to unknowingly using a performance enhancing drug.

Langat who is one of just 18 athletes to have broken 27 minutes (26:57) on the road in the 10 kilometers and one of 50 athletes who have ran inside 59 minutes (58:53) told the AIU why Furosemide, a prohibited substance under the World Anti-doping Agency, WADA, 2024 Prohibited List under the category S5: Diuretics and Masking Agents was found in his system.

The Kenyan also waived all rights of appeal and accepted his two-year ban.

Langat, according to the AIU, said ‘he had been sick, suffering from inflammation, since September 2023 and had sought medical treatment in the Netherlands in April 2024.

‘His sickness worsened during his stay at a training camp in Iten, so, on 31 July 2024, he contacted a doctor that he knew, who, based on the his (Langat’s) symptoms, advised him
to try using Furosemide for four (4) days to help reduce the inflammation he was experiencing and to ‘help the kidney and the adrenal glands’.

‘Relying on this advice, on 1 August 2024, Langat went to a chemist in Eldoret where he bought Furosemide,’ the AIU reported the athlete as saying in his explanation to the anti-doping body.

The AIU said Langat provided supporting medical documents to corroborate the medical treatment provided but failed to provide any documents or additional information in relation to his purchase of Furosemide or the precise dosage that he consumed.

Langat was subsequently issued with a notice of charge and the athlete who turned 29 in April wrote to the AIU to accept the charge and the sanction.

In addition to the two-year ban from September 2, 2024, Langat’s results from 6 August 2024 have also been cancelled with all the resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points, prizes and appearance money.