WORLD marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana have been confirmed dead.
The two died in a car crash in western Kenya last, police announced.
The 24-year-old Kiptum was driving from Kaptaget to Eldoret in western Kenya when the car rolled over and he lost his life, according to reports.
Kiptum ran a world record 2:00:35 in the Chicago Marathon last October, taking 34 seconds off fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge’s previous world record.
He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda’s Hakizimana.
Kiptum and Kipchoge had been named in Kenya’s provisional marathon team for the Paris Olympic Games later this year.
Paying tribute to Kiptum, Kenyan Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Devastatingly sickening!! Kenya has lost a special gem. Lost for words.”
Kenya’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga, said the country had lost ‘a true hero’ and was mourning ‘a remarkable individual… and Kenyan athletics icon’.
Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, said Kiptum was ‘an incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly’.
The road accident happened at about 11pm local time last night, police told AFP.
Giving further details of the crash, police said Kiptum was the driver, and the vehicle ‘lost control and rolled, killing the two on the spot’.
A spokesman quoted by AFP added that the third passenger – who was female – had been injured and ‘rushed to hospital’.
Just last week, Kiptum’s team announced that he would attempt to run the marathon in under two hours at the Rotterdam marathon – a feat that has never been achieved in open competition.
