Marathon record holder Kiptum dies in car crush

Tributes from around the world continue to be paid to the family, friends, and the marathon world, after the shock death of the world marathon record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, alongside his coach, in a road accident on Sunday 11th February 2024. The 24-year-old, who won the London Marathon in April 2023 before setting the world record in Chicago in October 2023, was reported by police to have lost control of his vehicle while driving in Kaptagat, south-west Kenya, at 11 pm local time.

Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge – one of the greatest marathon runners of all time. In Chicago in October last year, Kiptum bettered Kipchoge’s achievement, clocking the 42km race in two hours and 35 seconds.

Kiptum and Eliud Kipchoge had been named in Kenya’s provisional marathon team for the Paris Olympics later this year and many were looking forward to a battle of the two titans. Just last week, Kiptum’s team had announced that he would attempt to run the distance in under two hours at the Rotterdam Marathon – a heat that has never been achieved in open competition.

Kiptum was among a new crop of Kenyan athletes who began their careers on the road, breaking away from the tradition of athletes starting on the track before switching to longer distances. Kiptum competed in his first major competition in 2018 running in borrowed shoes because he could not afford a pair of his own.

The rise to fame for the father-of-two had been rapid – he only ran his first full marathon in 2022. He made an instant impact over the distance as he ran the then-fourth fastest time on record (2:01:53) to win the Valencia Marathon before setting a course record of 2:01:25 at the London Marathon in April 2023. Six months later, in just his third marathon, Kiptum took 34 seconds off the world record time in Chicago in his final race.

His coach, Hakizimana, 36, was a retired Rwandese runner. Last year, he spent months helping Kiptum target the world record, and their relationship as coach and athlete began in 2018, but the pair first met when the world record holder was much younger.