World Record Marathoner Dies in Car Accident at Age 24

Major foreign media such as AP and AFP reported on the 12th (Korean time) that Kelvin Kiftum (Kenya), the men's marathon world record holder, died in an unexpected car accident.

Kiftum was born in 1999 and was only 24 years old.

Kiftum lost his life in an accident while riding a car on the road between Eldoret and Kaptagat in the highlands of Kenya, a long-distance land training base, at around 11 pm on the 11th local time.

Kiftum's coach, Gervais Hakizimana, who was also on board, also died. 온라인카지노사이트

Kiftum is the world's first marathoner to complete the full marathon course (42.195 km) in less than 2 hours and 1 minute.

He set a new world record at the 2023 Chicago Marathon last October by running the 42.195km full course in 2 hours, 00 minutes and 35 seconds, and this record was approved by the World Association of Athletics Federations last week.

“On behalf of the federation, I would like to express our deepest condolences to Kiftum’s family, friends, teammates and Kenya,” said Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics Federation.

Kiftum quickly emerged as a world-class marathoner by recording a time of 2 hours, 01 minutes and 53 seconds at the Valencia Marathon on December 4, 2022.

Four months later, on April 23, 2023, he garnered more attention by setting a 'second-highest record at the time' of 2 hours, 01 minutes and 25 seconds at the London Marathon.

On October 9th last year, he set a new world record by running the 42.195km full course in Chicago in 2 hours 00 minutes 35 seconds.

This is 34 seconds shorter than the previous record of 2 hours 01 minutes 09 seconds set by Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) at the Berlin Marathon in September 2022.

11 years ago, Kiftum, who was an ordinary boy raising sheep and goats in Chefkorio, Kenya, had his life change when he met Coach Hakizimana, who also died in this accident.

Kiftum, along with his friends, took track and field lessons from coach Haki Jimana and has competed in international half marathon competitions since 2018.

Kiftum, who ran his first full marathon course in December 2022, set the marathon world record in about 10 months.

During his lifetime, Coach Hakizimana was worried that “Kiftum trains too much.”

He said, "I advise him, 'If you continue like this, your career as a player could end in 5 years.

You need to reduce training for the rest of your career,' but Kiftum does not want to stop training."

"All he does all day is “All I do is eat, sleep and run.

Kiftum runs 250 to 280 kilometers a week, and sometimes more than 300 kilometers a week,” he said.

Kiftum continued training in Kenya ahead of the Rotterdam Marathon in April this year and the Paris Olympics in August, but we will never see him running again.