Kiptum was on a quest to redefine what was possible. Now tragedy has left us wondering
IT was set to be one of the showdowns of this summer’s Olympics. Kelvin Kiptum versus Eliud Kipchoge, the young pretender against the old master. The world record holder going toe to toe with the two-time defending Olympic champion.
The two fastest marathon runners of all time had never raced each other before, but they were ready to do battle on the greatest stage of all in August.
Tragically, we will not now get to see the Kenyan team-mates tango in Paris after Kiptum was killed in a car crash on Sunday night at the age of 24.
‘I am deeply saddened by the tragic passing of the marathon world record holder and rising star Kelvin Kiptum,’ said 39-year-old Kipchoge. ‘An athlete who had a whole life ahead of him to achieve incredible greatness.’
Kipchoge has long been hailed as the greatest of all time in the marathon but Kiptum was the future, a once-in-a-genlast
‘An athlete who had his whole life ahead of him to achieve greatness’
eration athlete who, in his own words, was ready to ‘push the limits of human potential’ and ‘redefine what is possible’.
In October, Kiptum smashed Kipchoge’s world record by 34 seconds to become the first man to go under two hours and one minute in an official marathon.
His mind-blowing time of 2:00.35 in Chicago, where he nonchalantly blew kisses to the crowd before the finish, was ratified by World Athletics last Tuesday.
But Kiptum was already moving on to his next history-making mission. His eyes were set on becoming the first man to break the two-hour barrier in a ratified race, something he was targeting as soon as the Rotterdam Marathon in April.
The first time the world was alerted to Kiptum was in December 2022.
Making his debut in Valencia, he clocked 2:01.53 to become the third fastest marathon runner in history.
His next race was in London April. While all eyes were on Mo Farah in his last marathon before retirement, Kiptum stole the show by breaking Kipchoge’s course record and clocking the second fastest time ever of 2:01.25.
Then, in Chicago, he made it three wins from three marathons with that world record. Sadly, we will now never know quite how far
Kiptum could have pushed the boundaries of his event.
‘An incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy,’ said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who was one of the first to pay tribute on Sunday night.
Kiptum was born and raised in Chepkorio in Kenya’s Rift Valley. He worked on his family’s cattle farm and started running aged 13, following marathon runners on trails close to his home.
Kiptum made his international debut as a teenager in 2019 when he finished fifth at the Lisbon Half Marathon.
What was most extraordinary about Kiptum was the way he ran the second half of his marathons faster than his first.
In London, he covered the second 13.1 miles in 59:45. In Chicago, it was 59:47.
All eyes, then, were on what he might achieve in Rotterdam in April, the event he was training for when tragedy struck, ahead of his eagerly awaited Olympic debut in Paris.
Kiptum was driving near Kaptagat, an area in the southwest of Kenya renowned as a training base for distance runners, when he veered off the road and hit a tree. Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died at the scene.
Another passenger, Sharon Chepkirui Kosgei, 24, was rushed to hospital with serious injuries but survived and was discharged yesterday. The case is under investigation.
Kiptum leaves behind his wife, Asenath Rotich, and two young children.
‘Kiptum was our future,’ said Kenyan president William Ruto. ‘An extraordinary sportsman has left an extraordinary mark in the globe. Rest in peace.’