Kelvin Kiptom and his coach died in a road accident

Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptom and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a car accident in western Kenya on Sunday.

According to Elgeyo Marakwet County police commander Peter Mulinge, the accident happened at 11pm (local time) on Sunday night on the Eldoret-Kaptagat road.

According to reports, Kiptom was driving a Toyota Premio. He was accompanied by two passengers and passengers, including his coach, Gervais, and a woman believed to be Sharon Kosge.

Sharon Kosge was seriously injured and taken to hospital, while the athlete and her coach lost their lives in the accident. After which the bodies were taken to the mortuary of Race Course Hospital.

The county commander said it was an accident in which world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum was driving the car himself and was accompanied by other people. Kiptom and Hakizimana died on the spot and Sharon was taken to Race Course Hospital in Eldoret.

According to the county commander, Kiptum lost control of the vehicle, following which the car went off the road and hit a large tree before falling into a ditch about 60 meters away.

Kiptum was one of the most exciting new prospects to emerge in road running in recent years. He made headlines when he won his marathon debut in Valencia in December 2022, clocking 2:01:53.

In his third marathon less than a year later, he broke the world record with a time of 2:00:35 to win in Chicago.

That performance, coupled with his victory in a course record 2:01:25 at the London Marathon earlier in the year, saw him named the 2023 World Athlete of the Year for men's out-of-stadia events.

Kelvin Kiptum made his international debut in 2019, finishing fifth at the Lisbon Half Marathon in a time of 59:54. Also he performed well consistently. He was in the Kenyan team selected for the Paris Olympics.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Kelvin Kiptom and his coach Gervais Hakizimana. On behalf of all of World Athletics, we express our deepest condolences to his families, friends, teammates and the Kenyan nation.