On 8 October 2023, in Chicago, a 23-year-old Kenyan crossed the finish line of the marathon in 2 hours, 0 minutes and 35 seconds. No one had ever run the distance faster in a race.
Kelvin Kiptum had broken the world record in only his third marathon. Four months later, he was dead.
Out of nowhere
Kiptum came from the Rift Valley in Kenya, the heartland of distance running. Unlike many Kenyan stars, he did not come up through track racing. He trained on the roads and hills around his home, often alone, and began running half marathons before moving up to the full distance.
Three marathons
His debut in Valencia in December 2022 was the fastest marathon debut ever. In April 2023 he won the London Marathon with the second-fastest time in history. Then came Chicago, where he took 34 seconds off the world record held by his countryman Eliud Kipchoge.
Three races had made him the fastest marathon runner in history.
The two-hour barrier
Kipchoge had run under two hours in 2019, but in a specially organised event with rotating pacemakers, which did not count as a record. Kiptum’s time in an open race brought the idea of a sub-two-hour record within reach, and fans were excited about his next attempt.
A partnership
Kiptum’s coach, Gervais Hakizimana, was a former Rwandan runner who had known him since he was a young athlete. The two worked closely together and planned his races as a team, which made their deaths in the same crash even harder for the running community to accept.
The crash
On 11 February 2024, Kiptum was driving near Eldoret in western Kenya when his car crashed. He and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana of Rwanda, were killed. Kiptum was 24.
Grief
Kenya mourned. His funeral drew athletes, officials and thousands of mourners, and President William Ruto attended. World Athletics ratified his record shortly before his death, and tributes came from across the sport.
What was lost
Kiptum had planned to race in Rotterdam in 2024 and to try for the first official sub-two-hour marathon. He was also expected to be a major contender at the Paris Olympics.
He left a wife and two young children.
A record that stands for him
The world record remains in the books under his name. Every runner who chases a faster marathon now races against a man who ran it only three times, and who never got the chance to find out how fast he could really go.
