The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has provisionally suspended national 400m record holder Mercy Adongo Oketch, The Eastleigh Voice reported. She is one of four Kenyan athletes named in the agency's latest register, published on Thursday. The other three are distance runners Justus Muasya, Shadrack Kenduiywo Kipkurui and Lameck Kibiwott Too.
According to the register, Oketch and Muasya were suspended on October 26. The suspensions of Kenduiywo and Too took effect on Wednesday. Oketch's case involves trimetazidine and furosemide. Muasya and Kenduiywo are listed for erythropoietin (EPO). Kibiwott's case involves methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta, better known as CERA.
EPO and CERA boost the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. Trimetazidine is a drug used to treat some heart conditions. Furosemide is a diuretic that increases urine production. The register names the substances but does not say whether the athletes used them deliberately. It also gives no details of the circumstances of the alleged violations.
Oketch is the biggest name on the list. She set the national 400m record of 50.14 seconds at the 2025 Kip Keino Classic. That year she also won bronze with Kenya's mixed 4x400m relay team at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China. She later reached the women's 400m semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Kibiwott has a marathon best of 2:06:29, set when he finished sixth in Rotterdam in April 2024. He placed 11th at the 2025 Amsterdam Marathon in 2:07:21. Kenduiywo ran a half-marathon best of 1:01:16 in Austria in September 2025. He was also runner-up at the 2024 Padova Half Marathon. Muasya's personal bests are 28:17.35 for the 10,000m, 13:24.72 for the 5,000m and 1:01:18 for the half marathon.
The Daily Nation reported in its headline that two rugby players also failed doping tests. It did not name them.
A provisional suspension bars an athlete from competing while the case is being considered. It is not a final finding that an anti-doping rule was broken. All four athletes have the right to challenge the allegations.