The men’s world marathon record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, has died in a road accident in Kenya at the age of 24. Kimptum won the London Marathon in April 2023 before setting a new world record in Chicago in October, becoming the first man to run the distance inside two hours and one minute.
Kiptum made his marathon debut in 2022, recording the fastest debut time over the distance in Valencia. The Kenyan had recently announced plans to become the first athlete to run an official marathon in under two hours before Sunday’s tragic accident in which his coach, Gervais Hakizimana, was also killed.
Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, said Kiptum was ‘an incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy. We will miss him dearly.’