Sports

World Athletics President believes late Kiptum would have broken 2-hour marathon mark

Published

2 months ago

February 23, 2024

World Athletics President, Lord Sebastian Coe, believes late Kenyan world marathon record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, would have become the first person to run a competitive marathon in under two hours.

The 24-year-old Kiptum died alongside his Rwandese coach, Gervais Hakizimana, in ghastly car accident on February 11, along the Eldoret-Ravine road in Keiyo South Sub-County, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Kiptum became a world marathon record holder when he set a time of 2:00:35 in the Chicago Marathon in October last year after switching to running the marathon from shorter distance races a year before.

At the London Marathon, he set a 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.

He was laid to rest on Friday in a state burial and while sending his eulogies, Lord Coe believes Kiptum would have been the first athlete to to break the two-hour barrier in an official race.

“It is a frustration to all of us that we won’t witness what I truly know he was capable of,” Lord Coe told BBC Sport Africa.

“For sure he would have broken it. I will remember Kelvin from my time I spent with him just before Christmas in Monaco when he was celebrated in our Athlete of the Year awards.

“He spoke from the heart about the world record and, sadly, he spoke about his future.

“I watched him run in Chicago on television and he had a beautiful style. It was economic, fluid and graceful. He looked like a proper runner,” Lord Coe said.

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Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

1 day ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.

Sports

Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.