The 24-year-old and his coach have been killed after their automotive veered off the street between the cities of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya
Marathon world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum, who was poised to be a celebrity of long-distance operating, was killed alongside together with his coach in a automotive crash in Kenya late Sunday.
Kiptum was 24 and had the world file he set final yr on the Chicago Marathon ratified by the worldwide observe federation World Athletics simply final week.
He was additionally one of many favourites to win gold within the marathon on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kiptum, who was Kenyan, and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana have been killed within the crash at round 11 pm. In keeping with one other Kenyan athlete, Milcah Chemos, the crash occurred on a street between the cities of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya.
Native authorities confirmed just one automotive was concerned within the crash and {that a} third individual, a girl, who was additionally within the automobile, was taken to hospital with extreme accidents. He added that it appeared the automotive had veered off the street at excessive velocity and collided with a tree earlier than rolling.
Kiptum was the primary man to run the marathon in underneath 2 hours and 1 minute in an official race when he set the world file of two:00.35 in Chicago in October, beating the mark of fellow Kenyan and marathon nice Eliud Kipchoge. He set the file in simply his third top-level marathon.
Kiptum and Kipchoge have been anticipated to offer an attractive all-Kenyan battle for marathon gold in Paris. Kiptum was resulting from begin his season on the Rotterdam Marathon in April, which might have been his first occasion since breaking the world file.