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Kelvin Kiptum, the Kenyan athlete who held the world record in the men’s marathon, died around 11pm on Sunday in a car accident in Kenya. His coach also died in the accident. Kiptum was 24 years old and one of the most promising marathon runners of his generation. In October in Chicago he set the world record by running a marathon (a race of 42.195 kilometers) in 2 hours and 35 seconds.
The accident occurred while Kiptum was driving not far from his home town in west-central Kenya. As a child he had worked on his parents’ cattle farm. He started running at 13, following local athletes on the local tracks. After running mostly half marathons, he made his marathon debut in 2022, in Valencia: he set the third-fastest time ever.
Kiptum’s world record had significantly lowered the time of that of his predecessor, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, set in Berlin in 2022, by 2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds. Kiptum had said he intended to improve his time further, and that at the Rotterdam Marathon in April he would try to become the first person to run a marathon in under two hours.
World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that marathon world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a road traffic accident on Sunday at the age of 24.
Obit: 🔗 pic.twitter.com/TgWepi0cok
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 11, 2024