World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a visitors accident on Sunday, February 12, 2024, former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga mentioned on social media platform X.
Kenya’s Minister for Sports, Ababu Namwamba, mentioned on X , “Devastatingly sickening!! Kenya has lost a special gem. Lost for words.”
Kiptum, 24, set the world record on the Chicago Marathon in October with a time of two:00:35 to surpass the record of two:01:09 set by his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin in 2022.
Kiptum smashed the London Marathon course record earlier final 12 months and was decided to make magic once more in Chicago as he sped up by the 35-kilometre mark earlier than thrusting his arms in the air to cheers from the group down the ultimate stretch.
He was probably the most thrilling prospects to emerge in road working in years and was a transparent contender for gold in the marathon on the Paris Olympics in August.
Also learn: Kelvin Kiptum in the time of Eliud Kipchoge — how the marathon simply bought extra attention-grabbing
Kiptum, who was Kenyan, and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana have been killed in the crash at round 11 p.m. Another Kenyan athlete, Milcah Chemos, confirmed their deaths to The Associated Press. She was on the hospital mortuary the place the our bodies have been taken and had seen Kiptum’s physique, she mentioned.
She struggled to talk whereas breaking down in tears.
“I have no words to explain the loss of Kelvin,” she mentioned.
The crash occurred on a road between the cities of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya, Chemos mentioned, in the guts of the high-altitude area that’s famend as a coaching base for prime distance runners from Kenya and internationally. Kiptum was born and raised in the world.
Chemos mentioned she went to the hospital with different athletes and members of Kiptum’s household after listening to the information. The members of the family, which included Kiptum’s father, have been there to determine his physique.
The wreckage of the automobile in which Kenya’s marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach have been killed is towed from the scene of the accident alongside the Kaptagat to Eldoret freeway, close to the Rift Valley city of Eldoret, Kenya February 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
Badly mangled automotive
Denis Muga, the world police chief for Kaptagat, mentioned Kiptum was driving and it was the one automotive concerned in the crash.
Kenneth Kimaiyo, a buddy of Kiptum, mentioned he arrived on the crash scene quickly after it occurred and Kiptum had been thrown out of the automotive. It appeared the automotive had veered off the road at excessive velocity and collided with a tree earlier than rolling, Kimaiyo mentioned.
A 3rd particular person, a girl, was additionally in the automotive and had been taken to the hospital with critical accidents, he mentioned.
Photos from the scene confirmed the silver automotive with a badly mangled roof and one of many doorways flung open.
The Kenyan monitor federation mentioned it was saddened to announce the deaths of Kiptum and Hakizimana.
Kiptum was the primary man to run the marathon in beneath 2 hours, 1 minute in an official race when he set the world record of two:00.35 in Chicago in October, beating the mark of fellow Kenyan and marathon nice Eliud Kipchoge. He set the record in simply his third top-level marathon.
Kiptum and Kipchoge have been anticipated to supply an attractive all-Kenyan battle for marathon gold in Paris. Kiptum was because of begin his season on the Rotterdam Marathon in April, which might have been his first occasion since breaking the world record.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe was one of many first to supply his condolences in an announcement on X, previously Twitter.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the devastating loss of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana,” Coe wrote. “On behalf of all World Athletics we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, teammates and the Kenyan nation.”
“It was only earlier this week in Chicago, the place where Kelvin set his extraordinary marathon World Record, that I was able to officially ratify his historic time. An incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly,” Coe wrote.
David Rudisha, Kenya’s two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters, wrote on X that Kiptum’s loss of life was “a huge loss.”
Kiptum had rapid success by working the quickest time ever by a marathon debutant on the 2022 Valencia Marathon. The following 12 months, he received the London and Chicago races, two of probably the most prestigious marathons in the world. While younger and new to the circuit, he had already run three of the seven quickest marathon occasions ever recorded.
He was the newest of quite a few prime Kenyan runners to die in tragic road accidents.
David Lelei, an All-Africa Games silver medalist, died in a automotive crash in 2010. Marathon runner Francis Kiplagat was amongst 5 individuals who have been killed in a crash in 2018. Nicholas Bett, who received gold in the 400 meters hurdles on the 2015 world championships, additionally died in a automotive crash in 2018.
Rudisha, former 10,000 meters world champion Moses Tanui and Olympic silver medalist Paul Tergat have all survived critical road accidents.
Samuel Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion who was additionally tipped to be an all-time nice, died in 2011 on the age of 24 after falling from a balcony at his house in Kenya.
