Kenya feels the loss of marathon hero Kiptum as Olympics approach

GENEVA:

Kenya had hoped that the late marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum could break the two-hour barrier at the Paris Olympics, Kenya’s athletics chief said, calling his tragic death “devastating”.

Kiptum, a 24-year-old father of two, was killed in a late-night car crash on February 11, just months after setting a new Chicago marathon record of 2:00:35.

The shock of his loss was felt worldwide, leaving sports fans to ponder the last great milestone in modern athletics and what could have been this August at the 2024 Games.

“He was a young man, just coming up, he was only 24, and he had just broken the world record. And so everyone was really devastated,” Athletics Kenya president Jackson Twoway told AFP.

“What was so sad was that everyone was looking for him to do well at the Olympics and maybe break the marathon record under two hours,” the head of the national governing body said.

“Everyone was looking forward to getting him in good shape so he could break another record.

“What we have to do now is watch and see how we can support the family.”

Tuwei was in Geneva for the World Health Organization’s annual assembly, along with Kenya’s 800m world record holder David Rudisha, to campaign for clean air for athletes.

Although Kiptum competed in only three marathons — Valencia 2022, London 2023 and Chicago 2023 — he won them all, recording three of the seven fastest times in history.

Kenyan President William Ruto and World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, as well as top runners including Rudisha, attended Kiptoum’s funeral in the country’s athletics heartland, where he was born, trained and died.

“Kelvin was such a great athlete. He showed the world that there is still more that can be achieved,” Rudisha told AFP.

“He was very impressive. It came in a very short time. Nobody knew him that much until he broke the world record.

“It was really sad for Kenya because when we have athletes like that, who bring pride to our country — and especially in a year like this when he was at the top — we expected that he could win an Olympic medal.

“It was a great loss for Kenya and a great loss for sport.”

Rudisha’s 800m world record of 1:40.91, set at the 2012 London Olympics, has never been beaten. Six of the eight fastest 800m times in history have been set by Rudisha.

And since 1979, only Britain’s Coe, Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer, since 1997, and then Rudisha since 2010, hold the world record.

Now retired, Rudisha, 35, said he was looking forward to the 800m race at the Paris Games.

“From Kenya, we have Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Marco Arop from Canada. And I also saw a young kid Djamel Sedjati from Algeria run the top time in the world in Ostrava. That’s really amazing. We can’t wait to see how they perform.” , he said.

“At the Olympics, anything can happen. It’s always very competitive and everyone is going there to win. So there are a lot of expectations.”