24-year-old Calvin Kipton, who made history in the marathon, died in a road accident.

Marathon world record holder and strong contender for gold at the Paris Olympics, Calvin Kiptom, has died in a car accident in western Kenya. The 24-year-old player was on his way to Eldoret from Kaptagat at around 11 pm local time on Sunday when the car overturned. Apart from Kelvin, his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakijimana died in it. There were three people in the car, two of them died on the spot, while one was taken to the hospital. This was confirmed by Peter Mulinge, Police Commander of LGO Marquette County in Western Kenya.

Police said – Kelvin was heading towards Eldoret and the vehicle lost control and fell into a ditch, killing both of them on the spot. A female passenger was injured and taken to hospital.

Kelvin made a splash in the marathon when he won gold in Chicago last October in a world record time of 2:00:35. He broke the previous record of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge by 34 seconds. Calvin was only 23 years old at the time and was competing in only his third marathon.

Kiptum also won their other two attempts. The winning campaign continued in Valencia in 2022 and then in London the following year. The Kenyan athlete announced that he will attempt to become the first person to finish the race in under two hours in Rotterdam on April 14. However, he died before that. He was a strong contender for the Paris Olympics 2024. World Athletics has paid tribute to Kiptam as the most influential athlete of recent times.

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“We are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Kelvin and his coach Garveys Hakijimana,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. On behalf of World Athletics, our condolences go out to their families, friends, teammates and Kenya.

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