Marathon record holder Kiptum dies in car crash
NAIROBI: Tributes poured in on Monday for Kenyan running sensation Kelvin Kiptum after the marathon world record-holder was killed in a car crash at the age of 24.
The death of Kiptum, favorite for the marathon at the Paris Olympics later this year, has shocked Kenya and the world of athletics. The father of two was driving from Kaptagat to Eldoret in the Rift Valley, the heartland of Kenyan distance running, around 11 pm on Sunday when his car careered off the road and hit a tree.
Police said Kiptum and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed on the spot while a woman passenger was taken to hospital with serious injuries. “He lost control and veered off-road entering into a ditch on his left side. He drove in the ditch for about 60 meters before hitting a big tree,” said an official police report from Elgeyo Marakwet County where the accident occurred. Images on Kenyan media showed the mangled wreck of the vehicle, its windscreen shattered, the roof and doors buckled and almost ripped off.
From herding goats in a Rift Valley village just a decade ago, Kiptum had announced he would attempt in April to become the first man to run an official marathon under the mythic two-hour mark. He burst onto the marathon scene when he ran a world record 2:00:35 in Chicago in October, slicing 34 seconds off fellow Kenyan star Eliud Kipchoge’s previous record. He was just 23 at the time, and competing in only his third marathon. Kiptum also won his other two efforts - his debut in Valencia in 2022 and a follow-up in London the following year.
Kipchoge, regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of the “rising star” who shattered his record. “An athlete who had a whole life ahead of him to achieve incredible greatness,” Kipchoge said on X. Kiptum and the 39-year-old Kipchoge were expected to run together for the first time at the Paris Olympics. “We had been looking forward to welcoming him into the Olympic community at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and seeing what the fastest marathon runner in the world could achieve,” International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said on X.
As top athletes joined Kenyan politicians in paying tribute to Kiptum, tearful mourners gathered at the family home in the village of Chepsamo, consoling his father Samson Cheruiyot and his wife Asenath Rotich. Kenyan President William Ruto described Kiptum as “one of the world’s finest sportsmen who broke barriers to secure a marathon record”. “An extraordinary sportsman has left an extraordinary mark in the globe,” he said on X. World Athletics said his Valencia debut was the fastest in history and mourned the loss of “one of the most exciting new prospects to emerge in road running in recent years”. “An incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly,” said its president Sebastian Coe, who only last week had been in Chicago to officially ratify Kiptum’s historic time.