The men’s marathon world record holder, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country.
He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda’s Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya on Sunday.
Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge – one of the greatest marathon runners.
Kiptum bettered Kipchoge’s record, clocking the 26.2 miles (42km) in two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago last October.
His father Samson Cheruiyot was distraught.
“Kiptum was my only child, now he’s left me,” he told Kenya’s Citizen TV. “I don’t know what to say, I see his children will be looking to me and my child is gone… Now, who will help us raise his kids?”
The road accident happened at
Giving details of the crash, police said Kiptum was driving and had “lost control [of the vehicle] and veered off-road entering into a ditch on his left side”.
“He drove in the ditch for about 60 metres before hitting a big tree,” a police statement said.
Kiptum and Hakizimana died at the site of a collision. A third person – a young woman – was seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment
of the departed hero. Very sorry,” another told a local TV channel.
Reacting to the news of his death, Kenyan Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba wrote on X:
“Devastatingly sickening!! Kenya has lost a special gem. Lost for words.”
Kenya’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga, said the country had lost “a true hero” and was mourning “a remarkable individual… and Kenyan athletics icon”.
And Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, said Kiptum was “an incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy”.
Kiptum’s coach, Hakizimana, 36, was a retired Rwandan runner. Last year, he spent months helping Kiptum target the world record.
Their relationship as coach and athlete began in 2018, but the pair first met when the world record holder was much younger.
“I knew him when he was a little boy, herding livestock barefooted,” Hakizimana recalled last year. “It was in 2009, I was training near his father’s farm, he’d come kicking at my heels and I would chase him away.
“Now, I am grateful to him for his achievement.”
