Kenyan marathon world record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana, were on Sunday night killed in a road accident outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, Kenyan police have confirmed.
According to a statement by Elgeyo Marakwet, the County Police Commander, Peter Mulinge, on Monday, the 24-year-old athlete who was driving a Toyota Premio, and the coach died at the scene of the crash, while a third occupant of the vehicle survived with serious injuries.
“He (Kiptum) lost control, veered off the road, entered into a ditch 60 meters away and hit a big tree. The accident happened around 11 p.m. local time,” Mulinge said.
Kiptum became a world marathon record holder when he set a time of 2:00:35 in the Chicago Marathon in October last year which was only ratified by World Athletics last week.
He had only switched to running the marathon from shorter distance races a year before setting that record pace and improved his personal best time by 50 seconds to beat the 2:01:09 record set by fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, widely considered the greatest marathoner of all time.
Kiptum was tipped by many to be the successor to Kipchoge, and a possible contender to run the marathon in under 2 hours.
Kiptum broke the course record for the London Marathon last year, winning the men’s event in the second-fastest marathon in history, crossing the finish line in two hours, one minute and 25 seconds.
His coach, Hakizimana, 36, was a former professional athlete from Rwanda who participated in different races from the 5,000 meter to the half marathon.
World Athletics president Seb Coe, who expressed his grief in a statement, said:
“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the devastating loss of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana.
“On behalf of all World Athletics, we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, teammates 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.”