Kelvin Kiptum held the world record in the marathon. Now the star of the running scene has died in an accident at just 24 years old. His coach also died.
Kenyan athlete and former marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum has died in a traffic accident in Kenya. According to police reports, Kiptum’s coach Gervais Hakizimana was also in the car. He also died. Another person was injured in the accident on Sunday evening.
The news shocked the sports world. In October, the then 23-year-old Kiptum set a new world record: He ran the 42.195 kilometers in Chicago in 2:00:35 hours, 34 seconds faster than the then record holder Eliud Kipchoge a year earlier in Berlin.
“The accident occurred at around 11 p.m. (local time, 9 p.m. CET). There were three people in the car, two died on the spot. The two are Kiptum and his trainer,” Elgeyo Marakwet police said in a statement Western Kenya with. The third occupant was taken to the hospital. The car was on the way to the city of Eldoret.
Kiptum was considered a new star in the running sky. Kiptum and Kipchoge were supposed to meet at the Summer Olympics in Paris this year.
First man under two hours?
His coach Hakizimana was born in Rwanda, he lived and worked partly in France and discovered Kiptum in Kenya when he was still young and at the very beginning of his running career. From then on, Hakizimana took responsibility for his sporting development. Kiptum surprised everyone on his debut with a spectacular victory.
“Before the Valencia Marathon, I provided him with training plans that I sent via WhatsApp from France,” Hakizimana told the online media “Times Now News”. “He surprised me in that race, I didn’t think he could run 2:01:53. I thought he would do 2:05.” That was on December 4, 2022. Kiptum ran the fourth fastest time in history in Valencia.
There has recently been speculation in the running scene that he could run the marathon distance in under two hours. He would have been the first runner in the world to achieve this feat in an official competition. Now the marathon’s new superstar has tragically died at the age of just 24.