The former half-marathon world record holder will be ineligible to compete until March 2032 after admitting two anti-doping rule violations.

Nairobi, Kenya (Running Africa) — Former half-marathon world record holder Kibiwott Kandie has been handed a seven-year ban after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) found him guilty of refusing to provide a doping sample and tampering with the anti-doping control process.

The 30-year-old Kenyan long-distance runner was provisionally suspended in March 2025 after refusing to undergo an out-of-competition drug test at his home in Kenya. A subsequent AIU investigation uncovered a second anti-doping rule violation involving interference with the testing process.

According to the AIU, Kandie repeatedly delayed and ultimately refused to submit to testing despite being warned that doing so would constitute a serious anti-doping offence. Investigators also concluded that documents later submitted by the athlete were fraudulent and that his explanations for declining the test were false.

Kandie originally faced an eight-year suspension, but the sanction was reduced by one year after he admitted the violations and accepted the disciplinary outcome. His ban is effective from March 14, 2025, through March 13, 2032, sidelining him from all sanctioned athletics competitions during that period.

The suspension marks a dramatic fall for one of Kenya’s most accomplished road runners. Kandie set the half-marathon world record of 57 minutes and 32 seconds in 2020, a performance that cemented his place among the sport’s elite. He is also a three-time Valencia Half Marathon champion and won bronze for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games.

The ruling adds to ongoing efforts by the Athletics Integrity Unit and global anti-doping authorities to protect the integrity of athletics, particularly as Kenya continues to confront a growing number of high-profile doping cases involving elite distance runners.