- The lads’s world marathon document holder, Kelvin Kiptum has died in a highway accident aged 24, in Kenya, his house nation.
- Born within the Rift Valley, Kenya’s long-distance working bastion, Kiptum was barely a teen when he started following elite athletes coaching within the legendary high-altitude area.
- At simply 24 Kiptum was probably the most thrilling road-running prospects lately.
The lads’s world marathon document holder, Kelvin Kiptum has died in a highway accident aged 24, in Kenya, his house nation. The grisly highway accident additionally claimed the lifetime of Kiptum’s coach, Rwandese Gervais Hakizimana, with a 3rd occupant of the car, Sharon Kosgey, surviving the crash and rushed to hospital.
The police have reported that Kelvin Kiptum, misplaced management of his car whereas driving in Kaptagat Uasin Gishu County, within the southwestern a part of Kenya, at 11 pm native time.
Based on the native county commander, Peter Mulinge, Kiptum misplaced management of the car and hit a tree earlier than touchdown in a ditch.
“This was a self-involved accident the place one Kelvin Kiptum, the world marathon document holder, was driving his car with two passengers,” Mulinge added. “Kiptum and Hakizimana died on the spot and the third individual was rushed to Racecourse hospital in Eldoret.”
Kelvin Kiptum’s rise to stardom
Born within the Rift Valley, Kenya’s long-distance working bastion, Kiptum was barely a teen when he started following elite athletes coaching within the legendary high-altitude area. Whereas younger and new to the circuit, Kiptum had already run three of the seven quickest marathon occasions ever recorded and was seen as a uncommon expertise.
He burst onto the marathon scene in 2022 with a surprising debut within the 26.2-mile (42.195-km) distance in Valencia the place he clocked 2:01:53. World Athletics referred to as it the “quickest debut marathon in historical past”.
Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge – one of many best marathon runners. The 24-year-old received the London Marathon in April earlier than setting a brand new world document within the Financial institution of America Chicago Marathon in October 2023, bettering Kipchoge’s achievement by clocking the 26.1 miles (42km) in two hours and 35 seconds.
Kiptum stellar performance at the 2023 London Marathon was solely his second-ever marathon race and almost broke a world document then. Beforehand, Kiptum had predicted breaking a course document, however he didn’t anticipate to develop into a world document holder.
“A world document was not in my thoughts right this moment… however I knew at some point, one time I might be a world document holder,” Kiptum mentioned after ending the Financial institution of America Chicago Marathon in October. In Chicago, Kelvin Kiptum grew to become the primary man to run below two hours and one minute in a record-eligible race.
At simply 23 years previous, Kiptum’s 2:00:35 shaved 34 seconds off Kenyan compatriot Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge’s earlier document. The 2 compatriots had been anticipated to run collectively for the primary time this summer season on the Paris 2024 Olympics. Kiptum and Kipchoge had been anticipated to offer an attractive all-Kenyan battle for marathon gold on this 12 months’s Olympics.
Final week, Kiptum’s world document was ratified by World Athletics. Recognized for sustaining a gruelling coaching schedule that typically surpassed 300 kilometres every week, Kiptum solely lately introduced he hoped to smash the mythic two-hour mark in Rotterdam in April.
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Kenya’s loses one more promising athletics star
At simply 24 Kiptum was probably the most thrilling road-running prospects lately. His dying reverberated by way of Kenya, the place athletics is the nation’s greatest sport. However Kelvin Kiptum was additionally the newest Kenyan star to die in devastating circumstances.
David Lelei, an All-Africa Video games silver medalist, succumbed in a automotive crash in 2010. Marathon runner Francis Kiplagat was amongst 5 individuals who died in a crash in 2018. Nicholas Bett, who received gold within the 400-meter hurdles on the 2015 world championships, additionally died in a automotive crash in 2018.
Olympic silver medalist Paul Tergat, David Rudisha, 800m world document holder, and former 10,000 meters world champion Moses Tanui have all survived critical highway accidents of their house nation, Kenya.
Kenyans had been maybe most shocked when Agnes Tirop, a a number of cross-country world champion, was stabbed to dying in her house in 2021, allegedly by her husband. He was charged with homicide.
However maybe essentially the most devasting is the passing of Samuel Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion who was additionally tipped to be an all-time nice. Wanjiru died in 2011 on the age of simply 24 after falling from a balcony at his house in Kenya.
Tributes to the worldwide athletics icon
Kenya’s President Dr William Ruto was amongst those that paid their respects, writing on X, previously Twitter: “Kelvin Kiptum was a star. Arguably one of many world’s most interesting sportsmen who broke obstacles to safe a marathon document. He was solely 24 but, as a hero, triumphed in Valencia, Chicago, London and different prime competitions. His psychological energy and self-discipline had been unmatched. Kiptum was our future. A unprecedented sportsman has left a unprecedented mark on the globe. Our ideas are with the household and the sporting fraternity. Relaxation In Peace.”
Sebastian Coe, president of the World Athletics, despatched a condolence notice on X: “We’re shocked and deeply saddened to be taught of the devastating lack of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana. On behalf of all World Athletics, we ship our deepest condolences to their households, associates, teammates, and the Kenyan nation. It was solely earlier this week in Chicago, the place the place Kelvin set his extraordinary marathon World File, that I used to be capable of formally ratify his historic time. An unimaginable athlete leaving an unimaginable legacy, and we’ll miss him dearly.”
Kenya’s opposition chief, Raila Odinga, additionally paid his respects: “Devastating information as we mourn the lack of a outstanding particular person, Kelvin Kiptum, world document holder and Kenyan athletics icon. Collectively along with his coach, they tragically handed on in an accident tonight. Our nation grieves the profound lack of a real hero.”
These sentiments had been shared by Kenya’s minister for sports activities, Ababu Namwamba, who added on X: “Devastatingly sickening! Kenya has misplaced a particular gem. Misplaced for phrases.”