2024-02-12 07:20:00
Kelvin Kiptum (Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo)
Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a car crash in western Kenya that left a third passenger injured, police said on Sunday.
“The accident occurred around 11:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT). The car had three occupants, two died at the scene and one was taken to hospital. The two are Kiptum and his trainer,” said Elgeyo Marakwet County Police Commander Peter Mulinge. in western Kenya.
He said the car was heading to Eldoret, a town in western Kenya, when the accident occurred.
Kiptum broke a world record of 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathon in October, taking 34 seconds off the previous record of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.
Kiptum was 24 years old and on his way to becoming a long-distance running superstar.
The Kenyan beat Eliud Kipchoge with a time of 2:00:35
Kenyan runner Milcah Chemos, who was at the hospital where the bodies were taken, said he was among a group of athletes who had gone to the Eldoret hospital following hearing the news of the accident. Kiptum’s relatives were also with them to identify his body, Chemos said.
Kiptum was the first man to run the marathon in less than 2 hours and 1 minute. Kiptum’s record was ratified last week by the international athletics federation World Athletics.
Kenya Athletics Federation president Jackson Tuwei said he had sent a team of officials to the area following being informed of the overnight accident.
Kiptum found immediate success by running the fastest time ever achieved by a marathon debutant at the 2022 Valencia Marathon. Last year he won the London and Chicago races, two of the most prestigious marathons in the world.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe was one of the first to offer his condolences in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
FILE – Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya celebrates his Chicago Marathon record in Grant Park on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. According to a fellow athlete, Kiptum died in a car accident Sunday night in Kenya, Sunday February 11, 2024. He was 24 years old (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune via AP)
“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the devastating loss of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana,” Coe wrote. “On behalf of all of World Athletics we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, teammates and the nation of Kenya.”
“It was only earlier this week in Chicago, the place where Kelvin set his extraordinary marathon world record, that I was able to officially ratify his historic time. An incredible athlete who leaves an incredible legacy, he will be greatly missed,” Coe wrote.
Kiptum’s death leaves behind the duel that the Kenyan runner and his compatriot Kipchoge were going to compete on the Paris asphalt in the Olympic Games marathon, an event that would have brought together millions of viewers around the planet with the double incentive of knowing who would win and if anyone would be able to go under two hours: Kipchoge, the legend, the best marathon runner in history, once morest Kiptum, the promise and the fastest in the distance. Two styles, two different athletes, but the same passion and the same challenge, doing kilometers and trying to enter the golden book of world athletics with two hours as a barrier.
The tragic news leaves the world of athletics without one of its greatest current athletes.
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