Corir tested positive for a drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells during an out-of-competition test.
Published March 30, 2026
2021 New York Marathon champion Albert Korir of Kenya has been suspended for five years after admitting to using banned performance-enhancing drugs, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced.
AIU announced Monday that Korir received a one-year reduction from his original six-year suspension “based on early admission and acceptance of sanctions.”
Korir, 32, tested positive for the synthetic form of erythropoietin (EPO), which stimulates the production of red blood cells, during an out-of-competition test in Kenya in October 2025.
The five-year suspension will run from January 8, 2026, when he was provisionally suspended, to January 7, 2031.
Koril won the 2021 New York Marathon with a time of 2:08:22 and finished third in 2023 with a personal best time of 2:06:57.
He won the Ottawa Marathon in 2019 and 2025.
Korir’s sanction comes about six months after his compatriot Ruth Chepgetich, the current marathon world record holder, was suspended for three years after admitting to using hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a banned diuretic used as a masking agent.
Kenya has been working to clean up its image after being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following a series of doping scandals before and after the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Since then, more than 140 Kenyan runners, mostly long-distance athletes, have been sanctioned for drug offences.
In June 2024, Kenya handed down its first ever permanent suspension to marathon runner Beatriz Troic and handed a six-year ban to 10km record holder Ronex Kipruto.
