Albert Korir, the Kenyan winner of the 2021 New York Marathon, has been handed a five-year ban from athletics after admitting to doping, track and field investigators confirmed on Monday.
Korir tested positive for CERA, a potent blood-boosting substance and modern variant of EPO, across three separate samples collected in Kenya last October.
The tests were conducted while he was in training for a subsequent New York race.
The Athletics Integrity Unit’s verdict stipulates that all of Korir’s results since October will be disqualified, including his third-place finish in New York last November.
The unit stated that the three positive tests “constitutes clear evidence of the athlete’s use of ‘a prohibited substance on multiple occasions’ which is expressly identified in the definition of aggravating circumstances.”
The 32-year-old’s ban is set to expire in January 2031. His sanction was reduced by one year due to his admission of doping without requesting a formal hearing.
Notably, Korir will be permitted to retain his 2021 New York Marathon title.
He also finished runner-up in the race in 2019 and 2023, and third in 2024.
Korir is not the first Kenyan marathon runner to be hit with a ban in recent months.
Women’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years last October after admitting an anti-doping violation.
Kenya’s Chepngetich smashed the world record at the Chicago Marathon in October 2024, clocking 2:09:56 to become the first woman in history to break the 2:10:00 barrier.
She was provisionally suspended last July after testing positive for the banned substance hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), which was found in a sample on 14 March 2025, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said.
Despite being handed a ban, Chepngetich has been allowed to keep her world record time because it pre-dated her positive test.
