Two-time London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang was last night handed a provisional ban for whereabouts failures and tampering.
In another major blow to the credibility of athletics, the 2012 and 2014 London champion was adjudged guilty by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Nick Bitel, Chief Executive of London Marathon Events, said: “We are very disappointed to learn of the provisional suspension of Wilson Kipsang.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for all athletes who are found to have been in breach of anti-doping rules and we fully support the work of the AIU.”
Kipsang lowered the world record to 2:03:23 at the 2013 Berlin Marathon before Dennis Kimetto and Eliud Kipchoge subsequently bettered it.
The 37-year-old is the latest big name Kenyan to be busted. Rita Jeptoo was stripped of her Boston and Chicago Marathon titles while Olympic champion Jemima Sumgong was also banned, both testing positive for EPO.
Asbel Kiprop, a former Olympic and three-time world champion over 1500m, is another serving a four-year suspension for EPO.
Bitel added: “London is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors and we continue to work very closely with the AIU on our groundbreaking and extensive intelligence-driven testing programme.”
