Kiptum, born in 1999, died in a car crash in Kenya on Sunday evening.
Kenyan endurance runner Kelvin Kiptum has died in his home country on Sunday. Kiptum died in a car crash at the age of 24.
According to the AP news agency, also Kiptum’s coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a crash. The information was confirmed to the news agency by a Kenyan runner Milcah Chemos. The crash happened between the towns of Eldoret and Kaptagati in western Kenya.
According to Kenyan sources, there was also a third person in the car who was transported to the hospital. According to reports, Kiptum and Hakizimana died at the scene of the accident.
Kiptum ran a marathon world record of 2:00.35 in Chicago last October. He was the first to run a marathon under two hours and one minute. The International Athletics Federation confirmed the ME time only about a week ago.
Kiptum was considered an extremely talented endurance runner, who was predicted to break even under two hours in the marathon. He managed to run only three official marathons, the first of which was in Valencia in December 2022.
His debut marathon time of 2:01.53 was the fastest finish time ever run in a first marathon.
Kenya’s Minister of Sports Ababu Namwamba comment on the sad news in the message service X. “Shocking. Kenya has lost a special gem. I am speechless…” Namwamba wrote.