A tragic accident ends the life of the top scorer
Three marathons served Kelvin Kiptum to become the fastest person to have covered 42 kilometers. The Kenyan broke all records last October 8 in Chicago, when he was only 35 seconds short of sub-two hours. Yesterday, however, Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana, died in a road accident after they lost control of the vehicle on the road linking Eldoret to Kaptagat. According to the Kenyan police, the accident occurred around 11:00 p.m. and the athlete was the one driving the vehicle.
A brilliantly short career
In his short athletic career, Kiptum, 24, ran only three marathons. He debuted in Valencia, in December 2022, with the fastest time in history for a debutant in the race (2:01:53 seconds). Later, already in 2023, he won in London with a time of 2:01:25, to later crown himself with the record of 2 hours and 35 seconds, and thus snatch the previous mark from his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge. This record, in fact, was ratified by World Athletics five days before his death, on February 6.
A broken dream
After the Chicago marathon that made him record holder, Kiptum wanted to honor Kipchoge: “He is the greatest ever, he has done a lot, we respect him and we have to follow what he has done,” he said. The athlete had his sights set on winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “I have my eyes set on the Olympics,” he said after breaking the record. He won’t be able to do it anymore, although history will remember him as the first person to caress under two hours. Although he assured that this was not his goal.
An unforgettable record
“My main goal was to do the race record, but I was ready to run fast. I wasn’t confident about the world record, but I was in good shape to go further,” he stated at the post-marathon press conference from Chicago. “At 30 kilometers I saw that my body responded and I could attack. Five kilometers from the end I realized that I could achieve the world record”, he explained.
