World-record marathon runner Kelvin Kiptum killed in car crash.
Kelvin Kiptum, Kenya’s world record-holding marathon runner, has died in a car crash.
The death of the 24-year-old, who was driving in western Kenya on Sunday evening when his car rolled over, has left the world of athletics in shock.
Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot (2 December 1999 – 11 February 2024) was a Kenyan long-distance runner and the marathon world record holder at the time of his death. He was the only person in history to run the marathon in under two hours and one minute in a record-eligible race. He ran three of the seven fastest marathons in history.
Kiptum won three marathons he participated in, all renowned, including two top-tier World Marathon Majors (WMM), and held between December 2022 and October 2023. The times he achieved are three of the six fastest times in history, a course record under 2:02 in each case, making him the only man ever to break this barrier thrice.
Kiptum ran the fastest-ever marathon debut at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, becoming only the third man in history to break two hours and two minutes and setting the then-fourth-quickest time ever.[6] Kiptum followed it up four months later with the second-fastest marathon in history at 2:01:25, 16 seconds outside the world record, at the 2023 London Marathon (WMM).[7] In his next race, the 2023 Chicago Marathon (WMM) six months later in October 2023, the 23-year-old broke the world record by 34 seconds with a time of two hours and 35 seconds.