Australian men’s marathon record-holder Andy Buchanan says athletics integrity issues have smeared a “sad” lack of trust within the sport.

Earlier this month, recently crowned women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich was provisionally suspended for a positive doping test.

It was a devastating blow for the sport, given the Kenyan had just become the first woman in history to run under two hours and 10 minutes over the marathon, crushing the previous world record in the process, less than 12 months earlier in Chicago.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

With her blinding run of 2:09:56, Chepngetich lowered the previous best by almost two minutes — a record that had already lowered its predecessor by about three minutes.

It’s the latest in a long list of positive tests in the sport which, Buchanan says, makes it impossible not to be cynical about other athletes.

“Unfortunately, you always second guess these performances because the history is on the wall there, and, yeah, it is really sad,” the Bendigo local told www.20304050.best.

“It’s sad that I know that I’ll probably stand on a start line and there’ll be certain few that aren’t really doing a fair and there’s not really too much you can do about it.

“I think there might be people that are getting caught and, because they’re such big names, they’re nearly too big for the sport. So it’s a really tricky situation.

“But then you also have to think about as a Kenyan athlete, if they’re growing up in poverty and a race offers them a million dollars — it’s a very different situation to us over here.

“It is sad for the sport, and I really hope that they can come up with ways to deter this from happening in the future.”

Still on a high after his Australian record-breaking run in Valencia last December, and a second consecutive win at the Gold Coast half marathon earlier this month, Buchanan says he doesn’t let it affect him.

“You can so easily get bogged down in all that kind of stuff, but it’s not affecting what I do, it’s not affecting the run I’m going for that day, or the race that I’ve got coming up,” he said.

“There are a lot of runners that do get caught up in that kind of stuff, and I see it only negatively affect them because they compare themselves and all that kind of stuff.

“Maybe in retrospect I think about it, but when I’m on a start line, I don’t actually think that.

“And when I ran the Australian record — I actually don’t think I’m super talented. I think I work really hard, but I don’t think I’m that talented. And if I can run 2:06:20, then what could a really talented athlete that’s living at altitude, that’s got absolutely everything going for them, what can they run?

“So when I ran that time, I actually thought maybe there aren’t that many people that are doping, but yeah, you just never know, so it’s something I try not to think about, and when I’m standing on the start line, I’m definitely focused on myself.

“But then when you do hear these stories, you often think, ‘Oh, geez, that guy was in that race, or that guy was in this race’, which does get a bit disheartening.”

The 33-year-old teacher, who still works two days a week at a primary school in Bendigo, is gearing up for the world championships in Tokyo later this year, which he chose to run instead of the Sydney marathon in its first year as a world marathon major.

He said it was an easy choice to pick the Australian singlet over local history.

“I got the chance to run the Olympics last year over in Paris, and there’s just something about representing your country that is really special to me, and I love that and I think that’s the highest level in your sport,” Buchanan said.

“There are a lot of sports where you actually can’t really represent your country, so I love that I can do that in the marathon. The marathon is just such a cool event. So for me, it was quite easy.

“The world champs, that’s not on next year, whereas Sydney marathon will be there next year. So I can always do Sydney.

“And the fact it’s in Tokyo as well, the Japanese love their running, so I think it’s going to be a pretty special world champs.”

That doesn’t mean he’s any less excited for a world marathon major to hit Australian shores, even if he won’t be on the start line.

“I think it’s going to be huge. I ran London Marathon in April, and I think Australia has some good events, but what they lack is the cities don’t really get around the marathon and they probably just see it as an inconvenience because the roads are closed for a bit,” Buchanan said.

“And sure, the runners love it. But you go to Melbourne and there’s not that many people on the course. You go to Gold Coast, yeah, there are some people, but there’s nothing like London, and I really think with Sydney being a major, with Kipchoge, with Hassan, I think it’s going to take over the city for that weekend, and it’s really going to show how cool a marathon weekend can be, not just for the runners.

“I think it’s going to be really epic for the people that just want to go and support and watch some of the best athletes in the world.”

The poster boy for Asics in Australia at the moment, Buchanan now has three pairs of “rocket ships” to pick from in the Metaspeed series for Tokyo, with the brand having released the latest models of its super-shoes.

Recounting the first time he wore the new updates, he said: “I was a bit nervous because I was like, how can they make this shoe better than what it currently is? And then I got to wear it a little bit, and it is like, it’s like a rocket ship, like, I absolutely love it.

“I did a K-rep session in the Edges, the new ones, the other day and the times you can run in these shoes, it’s nearly like you’ve got to change the boundaries in a way, because it’s just so fast.”

With everything that has changed in Buchanan’s life since his Olympic debut last August and the Australian record later in December, he still sees himself as a teacher from Bendigo.

“It’s pretty cool to think that, of like all the people in Australia that have run a marathon, I’m the fastest,” he said.

“I don’t know, that still hasn’t sunk in. I don’t know if it ever will, probably until it gets taken away from me. So it’s definitely changed my life in in so many ways. But at the moment it’s all for the positive.

“But it’s something I don’t feel that comfortable saying out loud — and I don’t say it out loud.

“But then at the same time, I’m like, ‘Hey, I should embrace this and enjoy it like it’s it’s something to be proud of’.

“I don’t think the kids at school or many people at work really grasp how hard it is to get an Australian record in running. But I like it. I think it keeps me very grounded.”