The world of athletics received a very hard blow.
The Kenyan
Kelvin Kiptum
, owner of the world marathon record,
died at the age of 24, along with his coach, in a traffic accident
on the route that connects Eldoret and Kaptagat, towns where most of the long distance runners live and train. Kenya.
Kiptum
had established the new world record in the 42.195 kilometer event in October of last year
, when he won the
Chicago Marathon
with 2h00m35.
With that impressive mark, he shattered the record that his compatriot and two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge had set in Berlin 2022 with 2h01m09.
It was his second victory in one of the "Big 6", since in April he had won the
London
event with a time of 2h01m25.
The Kenyan
was pointed out by experts as the man destined to break the two-hour barrier in the mother event of athletics
.
He himself had set that milestone as his next big goal and had already chosen the setting to go for that feat: Rotterdam.
"The course is ideal and the crowd on the streets pushes you to do your best. I would love to be part of the rich history of this marathon. If the preparation goes in the right direction and the weather conditions allow it, I will go for it ", he had said in an interview with the Italian newspaper
La Gazetta Dello Sport
, anticipating what he expected to experience in that Dutch city on April 14.
In that interview he said that in
his preparation to seek that milestone he was going to run up to 270 kilometers per week and would move away from his family
to concentrate on intensive preparation in a camp in his native Chepkorio.
"It is a conscious choice made with my wife, to focus 100% on my goals," said the man who was also one of the great candidates to win gold at the
Paris Olympic Games
.
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: đź”— https://t.co/0CF1NbAzgw pic.twitter.com/TgWepi0cok
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 11, 2024
Born and raised in the Rift Valley, the cradle of Kenyan distance runners, he trained in cross-country or street competitions and broke into international events when he was barely twenty years old, when he ran four half-marathons under one hour.
The 2020 pandemic season marked the inactivity of competitions but at the end of that year, Kiptum - who had the perfect biotype for long-distance events (1.80 meters and 65 kilos) - appeared at the Valencia half marathon to run in the best time of his life (58m42), achieving sixth place.
And a couple of seasons later, following in the footsteps of Kipchoge, whom he admired since he was a child, he decided to "attack" the marathon directly, without much previous experience in that distance.
His debut over some 42.195 kilometers was also
in Valencia in December 2022
, where he amazed the world with enormous talent.
He won that marathon in 2h01m53, which was the fastest debut in history.
Until then, only two men (two true phenomena) like Kipchoge and the Ethiopian
Kenenisa Bekele
had run faster.
The next step was the London Marathon, on April 23, where he won with 2h01m25, indicating that Kipchoge's record was one step away.
Step that he finally took a few months later in Chicago, where he arrived after a preparation that had not been ideal.
"I didn't train in the best way. I missed several weeks due to the rainy season and also suffered a groin injury," he had said.
Likewise, he established himself with an overwhelming pace that led him to run the last 12 kilometers alone and allowed him to take the victory by a high margin: second was his compatriot
Benson Kipruto
with 2h04m02 and third, the Belgian
Bashir Abdi
, with 2h04m32.
With the world record in his possession, he did not settle and focused his head and his training on the double objective for this year: the feat of breaking two hours in Rotterdam and the Olympic title in Paris.
"I would like to continue growing and thus, inevitably, break that barrier (of two hours)," he had said shortly after that victory, which invited people to predict a brilliant 2024, with historic achievements.
Achievements that the world of athletics will no longer be able to celebrate.