Sawe cleared as London Marathon strips former winner over doping

As Kenya's Sebastian Sawe was dogged and surrounded by doping questions, coming out as clean and white as snow enroute to winning the 2026 Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS) London Marathon, the organizers of the same marathon have now ordered Russia's Liliya Shobukhova to return the medal she won back in 2010, and pay back her prize money, banning her for life from ever competing at the event, after being hit with a doping ban.

The Russian claimed the title back in 2010; however, it has now turned out that this win may not have been as incredible as it once seemed, as reported by Wales Online on Tuesday.

"In 2014, the Russian Athletics Federation confirmed that irregularities had been found in Shobukhova's biological passport. As a result, all of her results dating back to October 9, 2009, were declared void," British Media reported, adding that the London Marathon winner has now been banned for life and returned her winnings after being caught in a doping scandal.

Kenya's Sebastian Sawe on the other hand is alledged to have repeatedly been subjected to doping tests, something that his sponsors the Adidas had to come in and support him with a tune of $50,000 just incase, as the Kenyan prepared to defend a title he won in 2025, and now shattered the course record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum back in 2023, and now becoming the first human being to ever run a complete a full marathon, 42 kilometers under two hours.

Sawe's post event press conference had also numerous journalists from the West, who are alleged to have bombarded the Kenyan history maker with numerous questions that were targeted towards doping, an issue that doesn't seat well with Kenyan media, as Sawe and his sponsors have gone out of the way to disprove these questions as he aims to prove that all this success is due to his training and ability.

The now-banned Russian, 48-year-old Shibukhova, who triumphed at the 2010 London Marathon with a time of two hours and 22 minutes, finishing 30 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Aselefech Mergia, has been ordered to pay back her prize money after being hit with a doping ban and has been banned for life from competing in the race.

The decision means that her 2010 victory has been stripped from her, will have to repay almost £378,000 accumulated through appearance fees and prize money at the London Marathons in 2010 and 2011, when she also finished as runner-up.

In 2014, the Russian Athletics Federation confirmed that irregularities had been found in Shobukhova's biological passport, and as a result, all of her results dating back to October 9, 2009, were declared void, although she was initially handed a 38-month suspension, but this punishment was reduced by seven months due to her cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency during the investigation, more than a decade later, the demons of doping have caught up with her, reducing her hard earned career to a mere circus event full of clowns.