Kenyan has been handed a lengthy suspension following irregularities found in his Athlete Biological Passport

Rhonex Kipruto, the world 10km record-holder and world 10,000m bronze medallist last year, has been banned for six years for doping.

The 24-year-old will be banned until May 2029 after being provisionally suspended in May last year for violating anti-doping rules.

He will be stripped of his 10km record, which he set in Valencia in 2020 when he ran 26:24.

Kipruto has been banned after the Athletics Integrity Unit discovered irregularities in his athlete biological passport.

Kiprutos team has suggested possible explanations for his abnormal results, including alcohol use and three separate haematological disorders.

The Tribunal rejected Kiprutos defence, concluding the cause for the abnormalities in the ABP is more likely to be due to blood manipulation such as through the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rEPO), said the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which has enforced the ban. There was no other plausible explanation for the abnormal values.

The disciplinary panel said it was comfortably satisfied the athlete had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation but Kipruto can appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.