The life and times of marathon icon Kelvin Kiptum

The running world is mourning as we bid farewell to Kelvin Kiptum, the World Marathon record holder, who lost his life in a tragic car accident on Sunday,11 February and will be laid to rest on Friday at his farm in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu county in what will be a state burial.

Kiptum’s untimely departure has left an irreplaceable void in the hearts of fans and fellow athletes alike, as we remember the man who went beyond limits and set new standards in the sport.

In only three marathons, Kiptum had gone from being a budding Kenyan athlete to one of the most exciting sportspersons in long distance running.

Kiptum announced himself to be world at the 2023 Chicago Marathon where he run in 2 hrs. 35 seconds shattering the world record by an impressive 34 seconds

With that run, he became the first man to finish a marathon in under two hours and one minute. It left many tipping him to be the next marathon superstar and he became a favorite for gold at the fast approaching Olympics in Paris.

Kiptum was gearing up for the Rotterdam Marathon on April 14 before his demise a run which was likely to cement his fast-rising status, as he plotted to improve his personal best time in the Dutch city.

Sadly, the world will never get to see his full potential. Worse still, the athletics fraternity will not watch what could have been one of the greatest Olympic marathon races; a Kiptum/ Eliud Kipchoge duel in the capital of France.

Kiptum’s Life

Kiptum was born on 2 December 1999 in Chepkorio, Elgeyo Marakwet county. He was the only son of Samson Cheruiyot and Mary Kangongo.

He grew up surrounded by running greats and dreamt of becoming one himself.

As a son of a farmer, he started running while herding his family’s cattle and following other runners barefooted along the forest trails.

His family could not afford him to travel to the town of Eldoret 30km away, where many of Kenya’s pro runners base themselves, to do track sessions so he joined a village running group and ran down the dirt roads of Chepkorio.

By the age of 13, he was running road races. He managed a 10th-place finish in the Family Bank Half Marathon, which he went on to win five years later. He was entirely self-coached at the time. The following year, he won the Kass Half Marathon.

When he was only 18, he won the 2018 Eldoret half-marathon.

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Kiptum ran his first international race in March 2019, the Lisbon Half Marathon where he finished fifth with a personal best of 59:54.

The same year, when Kipchoge became the first man to cover the 42.2km distance in under two hours, Kiptum had not even completed a full marathon

He could only marvel at Kipchoge’s 1:59:40 run, which was achieved under conditions that prevented it from being ratified as a world record.

The youngster would first taste glory in Valencia in December 2022, when he was still relatively unknown in the marathon world, a feat that renewed his confidence in his abilities to be one of the best.

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Kiptum added another feather to his cabinet with a win at the London Marathon 2023 where he ran a time of 2:01:25 to break the course record and become the second-fastest marathoner of all time.

The 2023 Chicago marathon, where he nabbed the world record from Kipchoge, was the pinnacle of his career and, devastatingly, his last-ever race.

In that race, he shaved 34 seconds off Kipchoge's previous best of 2:01:09. His astounding record brought him closer to becoming the fastest man to break the two-hour barrier in the historic marathon.

Having set the fastest time in history in only his third marathon, the youngster decided he would further sharpen his skills in 2024 on the almost completely flat roads of the Rotterdam Marathon.

This being an Olympic year, it seemed as though Kiptum would have almost boundless opportunities to shine, including locking horns with Kipchoge. For many, this represented a metaphorical passing of the baton from one Kenyan legend to the next generation.

At 24 years of age, he had a decade or more of top-level marathon racing ahead of him, having already broken the world record.

Much like Samuel Wanjiru, we will never know what he may have achieved, but we know he would have had a sparkling career.

Apart from his glorious running career, the iconic marathoner was philanthropic by nature, sponsoring needy students from Chepkorio to pursue their secondary school education.

More importantly, he was a husband to Asenath Cheruto and a father of two children.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.