Kelvin Kiptum

Kelvin Kiptum

Kiptum at the 2023 London Marathon
Personal information
Full name	Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot
Born	(1999-12-02)2 December 1999 Chepsamo, Chepkorio, Kenya
Died	11 February 2024(2024-02-11) (aged 24) near Kaptagat, Kenya
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
Country	Kenya
Sport	Athletics
Event	Long-distance running
Coached by	Gervais Hakizimana (2023–2024)
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	1st (Marathon, 2023)
Personal best	Marathon: 2:00:35 WR (Chicago 2023)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing Kenya World Marathon Majors 2023 London Marathon 2023 Chicago Marathon

Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot (2 December 1999 – 11 February 2024) was a Kenyan long-distance runner and the marathon world record holder when he died. He is the only one to run a record-eligible marathon in under 2 hours 1 minute. He ran three of the seven fastest marathons in history and was ranked first among the world's men's marathon runners.

Kiptum won all three marathons he ran, including two top-tier World Marathon Majors (WMM) between December 2022 and October 2023. His times were three of the seven fastest marathon times, setting a course record of less than 2 hours 2 minutes in each race.

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. He 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). In his next race, the 2023 Chicago Marathon (WMM) six months later in October 2023, he broke the world record by 34 seconds with a time of 2:00:35, a mark ratified on 6 February 2024 – five days before his death – by the international track federation World Athletics.

Early life

According to World Athletics, Kelvin Kiptum was born on 2 December 1999 – however, LetsRun.com reported that Kiptum once said he was actually born in 1996, noting that he had a 7-year-old son at the time of his death. He grew up in Chepsamo village, Chepkorio, a high-altitude (~2600 m) area in Elgeyo-Marakwet County of Kenya's Rift Valley. It is located some 30 km east of Eldoret, on the southeastern border of the Kaptagat forest, and just near the edge of the meridional Elgeyo (Keiyo) escarpment to the east, which rapidly gives way to the lower Kerio Valley (800–1,200 m). Together with nearby counties of Kenya, the region is known as the birthplace of many renowned Kenyan runners and also as a mecca for foreign runners. As a young boy, he herded his family's cattle and began following other barefoot runners along the forest trails. Kiptum started training around 2013, when he was 13 years old. He was the only child of Samson Cheruiyot and his wife.

Career

In 2013, at the age of 13, Kiptum participated in his first half marathon, the Family Bank Eldoret Half Marathon in his native Kenya, finishing 10th; he placed 12th the following year. In 2018, the teenager took his first victory, winning this race with a time of 62:01. He was self-coached at the time. Kiptum then debuted on the international stage at the Lisbon Half Marathon, Portugal, in March 2019, finishing fifth with a new personal best of 59:54. He participated also in six other races that year touring north and west Europe, and winning the tough Kass Half Marathon back home in November. It was reported that in 2020 Kiptum had started working with Rwandan 3000 metres steeplechase record holder Gervais Hakizimana as a coach, although Kiptum supposedly had periodically trained alongside other youths with him since 2013. Since about 2020, he was already preparing for the marathon. In December of that year, the then-21-year-old set a significant personal best in the Spanish Valencia Half Marathon marathon at 58:42, placing sixth. In 2021, he ran 59:35 and 59:02 half marathons in Lens, France (placing first) and Valencia again (placing eighth), respectively.

2022: Third man ever to break 2:02 in the marathon

In December, 23-year-old Kiptum pulled off an upset when debuting in the classic 42.195 km distance at the Valencia Marathon. Running with a negative split, he took the victory with the fourth-fastest time ever of 2:01:53, becoming the third man in history to break two hours and two minutes. Only his compatriot and then-world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele had run faster up to that point. Kiptum set the quickest second half in marathon history with a time of 60:15 (including 14:00 from 30–35k and 28:05 between 30–40k). His winning time was by far the fastest marathon debut in history, smashing the course record by over a minute. He also beat the runner-up by more than a minute and the 2022 world marathon champion Tamirat Tola, the pre-race favourite, among others.

2023: Second-best ever followed by world record performances

Setting the world record at the Chicago Marathon in 2023

In his following race, a debut in a World Marathon Major at the London Marathon in April, Kiptum triumphed decisively in rainy conditions with the second-fastest mark in history at 2:01:25, a course record which was only 16 seconds outside the world record. Achieving a negative split again, with the 61:40 first half of the race, he broke from the field after the 30 km mark and completed the final half in 59:45—the fastest half marathon in a full marathon race ever up to that point (coupled with a record 13:49 from 30 to 35K at a swift 2:45.8 min/km pace = 21.71 km/h for a total of 27:50 between 30 and 40K). He beat second-place compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor, who came from the same village and had inspired young Kiptum to athletics, by nearly three minutes and Kipchoge's course record of 2:02:37 by more than a minute.

In his following race, being his third marathon and a second World Marathon Major at the Chicago Marathon on 8 October and still aged 23, Kiptum set a new world record with a time of two hours and 35 seconds, slicing 34 seconds off Kipchoge's standard set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon and obliterating the course record by more than three minutes. Kiptum negative split again, but this time the first half was covered in 60:48, almost a minute faster than his performance in London (though still 14 seconds behind the world record pace), and he had the stamina to run his second half at 59:47—only two seconds slower than in London, where he set the quickest half in a marathon. As in Valencia and London, the Kenyan made his trademark move roughly near the 30K checkpoint. After the 29th kilometre in a fast 2:35, he clocked a record 13:35 from 32–37k at a swift 2:43 min/km pace (22.09 km/h). Thus, Kiptum averaged 2:51 min/km pace for the entire distance (20.995 km/h). He ran at the front after the 15K checkpoint, without a pacemaker after halfway, and alone from 30th kilometre onward, beating the runner-up—his compatriot Benson Kipruto—by almost three and a half minutes.

Training regimen

Following Kiptum's record-breaking performance in October 2023, his coach provided insight on the athlete's training regimen. Gervais Hakizimana stated that Kiptum logged 250 to 280 km (155–173 mi) per week in the lead-up to that year's London Marathon in April. His routine regularly featured daily morning runs spanning 25–28 km, track or fartlek workouts on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and intense long runs of 30–40 km at close to marathon pace on Thursdays and Sundays. He trained alternately in the high-altitude areas of Chepkorio and the nearby Kerio Valley (800–1,200 m) before the Chicago Marathon.

Personal life

Kiptum was married to Asenath Cheruto Rotich and, together, they had two children.

Death

At 11:00 pm local time on 11 February 2024, Kiptum was killed in a road traffic accident near Kaptagat, Kenya, in which his coach Gervais Hakizimana also died. Local police stated that Kiptum lost control of his Toyota Premio and veered off the road, before entering a ditch and colliding with a tree. Four men who had visited him that day about a contract for running shoes were subsequently detained for questioning concerning Kiptum's death.

Reactions

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe remarked: "On behalf of all World Athletics, we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, team mates 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."

Former marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge said: "I am deeply saddened by the tragic passing of the Marathon World record holder and rising star Kelvin Kiptum. An athlete who had a whole life ahead of him to achieve incredible greatness. I offer my deepest condolences to his young family. May God comfort you during this trying time."

Kenyan President William Ruto stated: "Kelvin Kiptum was a star. Arguably one of the world's finest sportsmen who broke barriers to secure a marathon record."

Achievements

Information from World Athletics profile and rankings. Note that personal bests are given with their current status while statuses and positions on the all-time top list shown in the competition record section are provided as of date they were achieved. Course record statuses according to sources cited in the article.

Personal bests

Surface	Event	Time	Place	Date	Notes
Track	10,000 metres	28:27.87	Stockholm, Sweden	4 May 2021
Road	10 km	28:17	Utrecht, Netherlands	6 October 2019
	Half marathon	58:42	Valencia, Spain	6 December 2020
	Marathon	2:00:35	Chicago, United States	8 October 2023	World record

Marathons

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Notes
2022	Valencia Marathon	Valencia, Spain	1st	Elite Platinum marathon	2:01:53	PB CR, 4th performance all time (WR 44 s+)
2023	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	1st	World Marathon Majors	2:01:25	PB CR, 2nd performance all time (WR 16 s+)
	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, United States	1st		2:00:35	PB CR WR (previous WR 34 s-)

World Marathon Majors Series timeline

World Marathon Majors	2023 (Series XV)
Tokyo Marathon	–
Boston Marathon	–
London Marathon	1st 2:01:25
Berlin Marathon	–
Chicago Marathon	1st 2:00:35
New York City Marathon	–
Series standing	Winner 50 pts

See also

• Salvador Sánchez – another athlete who died in a car crash at a similar age
• Steve Prefontaine – another elite runner who died in a car crash at the same age
• Sammy Wanjiru – another elite marathon runner who died at the same age
• Sportspeople who died during their careers#Other sports

External links

• Kelvin Kiptum at World Athletics