Marathon world record holder and his coach were killed on the spot

As abruptly as his world record burst on to the planet’s marathon scene, Kelvin Kiptum is gone.

The world record holder in the men’s marathon and his Rwandese coach, Gervais Hakizimana, were killed in a road accident in Kenya on February 11, 2024, news reports said. The Kenyan athlete was driving the vehicle when he appears to have lost control. The two men were killed on the spot. A third passenger – a woman – was injured and rushed to hospital.

According to the Kenyan edition of The Nation, Kiptum was driving the Toyota Premio with Gervais and a lady identified as Sharon Kosgey aboard. They were headed to Eldoret. The accident happened at 11 PM, Sunday, in the Kaptagat area along the Elgeyo Marakwet-Ravine Road. The local police commander said that Kiptum lost control of the vehicle, veered off the road and hit a big tree before landing in a ditch 60 metres away. Sharon escaped with serious injuries.

Kiptum, 24, was the only person so far to run the marathon in a timing below two hours and one minute in a record-eligible race. He had achieved the feat at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, covering the 42.2 kilometre-distance in two hours and 35 seconds. The previous record of 2:01:09 was set by Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. In the process, he also improved the course record at Chicago by over three minutes. Kiptum’s world record was ratified by World Athletics just two days ago.

At the time the new global mark was set at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, it had been a bolt from the blue for most elite and amateur marathoners and followers of the sport, used as they were to the discipline’s domination by Kipchoge. Kiptum, who owns three of the seven fastest timings in the marathon, also held the record for the fastest ever marathon debut (2022 Valencia Marathon). News reports in the wake of his demise said that Kiptum had been hoping to become the first man to run the marathon in under two hours in race conditions at the upcoming Rotterdam Marathon.

Both Kiptum and Kipchoge had been named in Kenya’s provisional marathon team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It would have been Kiptum’s debut at the Games. In its report, BBC quoted Sebastian Coe, president, World Athletics, saying that Kiptum was “ an incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly.”

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai)