Kiptum and his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, died in a car accident on Sunday night.
Young Kenyan marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, who had taken the long-distance running world by storm in has perished, his family has confirmed.
Kiptum and his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, died in a car accident on Sunday night.
The tragedy occurred on the Eldoret-Kaptagat road in Kenya, according to Elgeyo Marakwet County Police Commandant Peter Mulinge.
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After twice clocking two hours and one minute for the marathon, in 2022 and 2023, Kiptum shattered Kenyan icon Eliud Kipchoge's world record by smashing the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35. Kipchoge's world record was 2:01:09.
ABOUT KELVIN KIPTUM
Kiptum, born in Kenya's Keiyo District in 1999, had established himself as the man most likely to become the first athlete to officially crack the two-hour mark.
Kipchoge ran 1:59.40 in Vienna in 2019, but a raft of factors, including a rotating cast of pacemakers and laser lights beaming from a car ahead, meant his time didn't count as a world record.
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