Following his death in a car accident, Kenya's 24-year-old world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum will be laid to rest on Friday in the country's athletics epicenter.

At the burial in the Rift Valley, where Kiptum was born, trained, and ultimately died, mourners are anticipated to include Sebastian Coe, the head of World Athletics, and President William Ruto.

Just a few months after shocking the athletics world by smashing the marathon record in Chicago in October, the father of two lost control of his vehicle and struck a tree on February 11.

He completed the course in two hours and 35 seconds, shaving 34 seconds off the record set by the renowned Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge.

Kiptum only participated in three marathons, but he won each and set three of the top seven times for the distance.

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Kenya and the larger athletics community are in shock over his unexpected passing.

In his hometown of Chepkorio, western Kenya, hundreds gathered on Thursday to honor the rising star, the clear favorite to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

In Nairobi, the country's capital, hundreds attended a somber candlelight vigil on the eve of the funeral.



The government is constructing a new home for the family of the national hero in Naiberi, which is close to Eldoret in the Rift Valley in western Kenya. Kiptum will be laid to rest there.

Strong winds on Thursday caused damage to property at the Chepsamo venue, so the funeral service for Kiptum has been rescheduled to the Chepkorio showgrounds in Keiyo South.

The organizers informed the media that the location had to be adjusted because of high winds.


The extent of the damage was visible in multiple images obtained by Citizen Digital after the tents that had been erected were blown off by strong winds, with some of them crashing into parked cars.

According to the police, on February 11 at approximately 11:00 p.m., Kiptum was driving close to Eldoret when his vehicle veered off the road into a ditch and struck a tree.

Johansen Oduor, the head government pathologist for Kenya, announced on Wednesday that Kiptum had sustained severe head injuries based on the autopsy results.

He said that toxicology tests were still being conducted.



In the collision, his 36-year-old Rwandan coach, Gervais Hakizimana, also perished.

On Wednesday, Hakizimana, who has been Kiptum's trainer since 2019, was buried in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

Kiptum, well-known for sticking to an intense training regimen that can exceed 300 kilometers (190 miles) per week, recently declared his intention to break the fabled two-hour mark at the Rotterdam Marathon in April.