Albert Korir, the Kenyan athlete who won the 2021 New York City Marathon, has been handed a five-year suspension following his admission to using a prohibited performance-enhancing substance. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced the sanction on Monday, revealing that Korir, aged 32, tested positive for synthetic erythropoietin (EPO) during out-of-competition testing conducted in Kenya in October 2025.
Initially facing a six-year ban, Korir’s suspension was reduced by one year due to his early admission and acceptance of the penalty. The five-year ban will be effective from January 8, 2026, the date he was provisionally suspended, and will last until January 7, 2031.
Korir’s notable career highlights include his victory at the 2021 New York Marathon with a finishing time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 22 seconds, and a third-place finish in the 2023 edition where he set a personal best of 2:06:57. Additionally, he claimed wins at the Ottawa Marathon in both 2019 and 2025.
In a related development, Korir’s sanction follows the doping ban of fellow Kenyan marathoner Ruth Chepngetich, the current world record holder, who was suspended for three years after admitting to using Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a banned diuretic often employed as a masking agent. This highlights ongoing challenges within Kenyan long-distance running, where many athletes face pressure to resort to doping due to limited training infrastructure and the sport’s role as a means of economic advancement.
Kenya has been striving to restore its reputation after a series of doping scandals around the 2016 Rio Olympics led to the country being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Since then, over 140 Kenyan runners, predominantly long-distance competitors, have been sanctioned for doping violations. In June 2024, Kenya imposed its first lifetime ban on marathon runner Beatrice Toroitich and issued a six-year suspension to 10km record-holder Rhonex Kipruto, signaling a tougher stance on doping offenses.
