The news has just broken: on Sunday February 11, 2024, marathon record-holder Kelvin Kiptum died following a car accident in Kaptagat, in his native Kenya. The Kenyan long-distance runner was at the wheel of the vehicle, and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana, was also in the car.
The young Kenyan marathon runner had made his mark with an astonishing record-breaking performance in the Chicago marathon of 2023, run in a record time of 2:00 and 35 seconds. In doing so, he beat the previous record, set by Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge, by 34 seconds. The particularly promising young athlete was due to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer, with the hope of winning Olympic gold at the end of the event. In 2022, Kiptum had already won the famous Valencia marathon in under 2 hours and 2 minutes, in 2023 he finished first in the London marathon and smashed the world record at the Chicago marathon.
The athlete, born on December 2, 1999 in Eldoret, Kenya, was a long-distance runner who excelled in both half-marathons and marathons. Nicknamed "The Cheetah", he died tragically in a road accident in Kaptagat (Kenya), aged just 24.
