Tributes flowed on Monday for Kenyan running sensation Kelvin Kiptum after the marathon world record-holder was killed in a car crash at the age of 24 in his home country.
The favourite for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics was driving from Kaptagat to Eldoret in western Kenya around 11 pm (2000 GMT) on Sunday when his car rolled.
Kiptum and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed while a woman passenger was injured, said Peter Mulinge, police commander for Elgeyo Marakwet County where the accident occurred.
“The car had three occupants, two died on the spot, while one was taken to hospital. The two are Kiptum and his coach,” he said.
“It is Kiptum who was driving heading to Eldoret and the vehicle lost control and rolled, killing the two on the spot,” he told reporters.
Kiptum exploded onto the marathon scene when he ran a world record 2:00:35 in Chicago in October, taking 34 seconds off fellow Kenyan star Eliud Kipchoge’s previous record.
He was just 23 years old at the time, and competing in only his third marathon.
Kiptum also won his other two efforts — his debut in Valencia in 2022 and a follow-up in London the following year.
“Arguably one of the world’s finest sportsmen who broke barriers to secure a marathon record,” Kenyan President William Ruto said on X, describing Kiptum as “our future” and “an extraordinary sportsman”.
– ‘Incredible athlete’ –
From herding goats just a decade ago, Kiptum had announced he would attempt in April to become the first man to run an official marathon under the mythic two-hour mark.
World Athletics said his debut was the fastest in history and mourned the loss of “one of the most exciting new prospects to emerge in road running in recent years”.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the devastating loss of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement.
“On behalf of all World Athletics, we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, teammates and the Kenyan nation.”
Coe said only last week he had been in Chicago to officially ratify Kiptum’s historic time.
“An incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly.”
Kiptum and compatriot Kipchoge were anticipated to run together for the first time this summer at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“With the Olympics just days away, we mourn the untimely departure of a promising talent,” President of Kenya’s National Olympic Committee Paul Tergat said in a statement on X.
“Kelvin’s recent ratified record in Chicago showcased his potential for a bright future, representing the next generation of Olympic greatness.”
Kenyan two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha described his death as a “huge loss”.
– Humble beginnings –
Kiptum hailed from Chepkorio, a village in the Rift Valley that is the heartland of Kenyan distance running, and where ultimately his death occurred.
Ten years ago, barely a teen, he herded goats and sheep and then began following Hakizimana, who is from Rwanda, and other runners as they trained in the legendary high-altitude region.
By 2019, Kiptum ran two half-marathons in two weeks, going 60:48 in Copenhagen and 59:53 in Belfort, France. He began training with Hakizimana, who stayed in Kenya when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
Kiptum’s death is the latest in a saga of tragedies to hit Kenya’s young athletics hopefuls.
In 2011, Kenyan marathon great Samuel Wanjiru died at the same age after capturing the Olympic title in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
According to a pathologist, Wanjiru was killed from being hit on the head with a blunt object.
In 2021, long-distance running star Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death at the age of 25 at her house in Iten, near Eldoret.
Her husband Ibrahim Rotich went on trial for her murder in November last year. He has denied the charge and was freed on bail just before the trial opened.
Kiptum entered his first major competition in 2018, running in borrowed shoes because he could not afford a pair of his own.
He was among a new crop of Kenyan athletes who began their careers on the road, breaking away from the past tradition of athletes starting on the track before switching to longer distances.
Kiptum told the BBC last year that his unusual choice was simply determined by a lack of resources.
“I had no money to travel to track sessions,” he explained.
People have gathered outside the hospital in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret where his body has been taken.
“I don’t know what to say but God, if we have done wrong, God forgive us because Kiptum was headed for great heights,” one man said.
“We want to say very sorry to the Kenyans and much more to the family 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”.
Father calls for investigation, strangers visited
On Monday, the father of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum called on the Kenyan government to investigate the circumstances of the death of his son following his passing in a road accident in western Kenya on Sunday.
“There were some people who came a few days ago looking for Kiptum, but they refused to identify themselves. I asked them to present me with some identification, but they chose to leave,” the athlete’s father, Samson Cheruiyot, said in statements picked up by local media.
“Kiptum was my only son. He has left me, his mother and his children (…) I am deeply saddened.”
He noted that his son assured him the last time they spoke that he was feeling well and was ready to break the marathon record again, going under two hours.
“He told me that someone will come and help us build a house. He said his body was now fit and he could run for 1.59:00,” his father revealed.
Kiptum’s father added that he learned of the misfortune on the television.
“I got the news of my son’s death while watching the news. I went to the accident site, but the Police had taken the body to Eldoret,” Cheruiyot recalled.
The governor of the Kenyan county of Uasin Gishu (where the incident occurred), Jonathan Bii, joined the plea of the athlete’s father.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Kiptum and we call on the Police to speed up investigations so that we can find out what caused the accident,” Bii told reporters.
The body of the athlete has been transferred from the morgue of the Race Course Hospital, where dozens of athletes and acquaintances have come to say goodbye to their friend, to that of the Eldoret Hospital.
Before his life was cut short at the age of 24 in a road accident, Kelvin Kiptum had been intent on achieving even more history in his brief but extraordinary marathon running career.
Already the world record holder over 26.2 miles, Kiptum’s next challenge was to become the first person ever to break the two-hour barrier in an official race at the Rotterdam Marathon in April. In pursuit of this goal, his life was simple and his training rigorous.
“Currently my days consist of eat, sleep, train and repeat,” Kiptum wrote on social media last month. “My preparation is my main focus at the moment.”
But the world will never know if he could break his own record, nor the hallowed two-hour barrier – one of the legendary frontiers in distance running.
At this year’s Paris Olympics, Kiptum was expected to represent Kenya alongside Kipchoge, who for a long time was considered untouchable over the marathon distance.
As well as holding the official world record for five years prior to Kiptum, the 39-year-old Kipchoge also became the first man to break the two-hour barrier unofficially.
That event, staged on a flat, straight course in the Austrian capital of Vienna, saw Kipchoge run in conditions engineered to produce a fast time, including assistance from a rotating group of pacesetters and unlimited access to hydration.
Kiptum and Kipchoge have never raced each other, but this year’s Olympics could have been an opportunity to watch the two-time gold medalist compete against the current world record holder – the old master against the rising star.
“An athlete who had a whole life ahead of him to achieve incredible greatness,” Kipchoge wrote on social media in response to Kiptum’s death. “I offer my deepest condolences to his young family.”
