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Kiptum, who exploded onto the marathon scene in October, was the overwhelming favorite to win the Paris Olympics.
Kelvin Kiptum, Kenya’s world record-holding marathon runner, has died in a automobile crash.
The loss of life of the 24-year-old, who was driving in western Kenya on Sunday night when his automobile rolled over, has left the world of athletics in shock.
Kiptum misplaced management of the automobile, and the younger operating sensation and his Rwandan coach, Gervais Hakizimana, had been killed on the spot, an area police officer stated. A feminine passenger who sustained accidents was rushed to the hospital.
Kiptum exploded onto the marathon scene when he ran a world document 2:00:35 in Chicago in October, taking 34 seconds off fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge’s earlier document.
He was simply 23 years outdated on the time, and competing in solely his third marathon. Kiptum additionally received his different two races: his debut in Valencia in 2022 and a follow-up in London the next 12 months.
The Kenyan had introduced he would try and change into the primary man to run an official marathon underneath the two-hour mark in Rotterdam on April 14.
Kiptum was the overwhelming favorite to take the gold on the upcoming Summer season Olympics in Paris.
Tributes
Tributes poured in following the information of Kiptum’s loss of life.
World Athletics remembered him as “probably the most thrilling new prospects to emerge in highway operating in recent times”.
“We’re shocked and deeply saddened to study of the devastating lack of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe stated in a press release.
“On behalf of all World Athletics, we ship our deepest condolences to their households, buddies, teammates and the Kenyan nation.”
We’re shocked and deeply saddened to study of the devastating lack of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana.
On behalf of all World Athletics we ship our deepest condolences to their households, buddies, teammates and the Kenyan nation.
It was solely earlier this week in… pic.twitter.com/dDBKgjXNKL
— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) February 11, 2024
Coe stated solely final week he had been in Chicago “to formally ratify” Kiptum’s document.
“An unbelievable athlete leaving an unbelievable legacy, we’ll miss him dearly.”
Kenyan two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha stated he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the information.
“This can be a large loss,” he posted on social media platform X.
Australia’s former world champion marathon runner Robert de Castella additionally paid tribute to the athlete.
“Stunning tragedy! Similar to that, a rising celebrity is gone. Highlights how treasured life is, and the way weak all of us are,” de Castella stated.
Kiptum hailed from Chepkorio, a village within the Rift Valley that’s the heartland of Kenyan distance running, and the place finally his loss of life occurred.
Ten years in the past, barely a teen, he herded goats and sheep after which started following Hakizimana, who’s from Rwanda, and different runners as they skilled within the legendary high-altitude area.
By 2019, Kiptum ran two half-marathons in two weeks, going 60:48 in Copenhagen and 59:53 in Belfort, France. He started coaching with Hakizimana, who stayed in Kenya when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Kiptum’s loss of life is the newest in a saga of tragedies to hit Kenya’s younger athletics hopefuls.
In 2011, marathon nice Samuel Wanjiru died on the similar age after capturing the Olympic title in 2008 in Beijing.
In response to a pathologist, Wanjiru was killed from being hit on the top with a blunt object.
In 2021, long-distance operating star Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death on the age of 25 at her home in Iten, close to Eldoret.
Her husband Ibrahim Rotich went on trial for her homicide in November final 12 months. He has denied the cost and was freed on bail simply earlier than the trial opened.
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