A very sad day for his family, his country and the world of long distance running. Really was thinking he would be the first to break 2 hours in an official race - who knows when it will happen now.
Memento mori.
LRC note: We changed the thread title. It was started when people weren't sure if he had died and it was entitled, "Rip Kelvin Kiptum??"
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Kenyan police says it was a “self-involved” accident.
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Puhlease wrote:
why was he even driving the car? Why is the marathon world record holder and arguably (former) best runner in the world driving somewhere at 11pm? And without a professional hired driver?
Why do you think this would be any safer?
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The brightest stars burn out fastest. Such a sad story and especially for his family.172
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Ajax wrote:
Ajax wrote:
There's a history of famous East African runners being in deadly or near-deadly car accidents - Bikila, Lelei, Kiplagat, Bett, Rudisha, Tanui, Tergat...and now Kiptum. I'm sure there's many more.
Achon from Uganda...
Quite.
You probably know that the roadways leave a LOT to be desired in rural East Africa.
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Awsi Dooger wrote:
I was becoming a fan of the marathon solely due to Kelvin Kiptum. There's no way a late 30s guy was invincible or deserved of as much claim as he was receiving. That's why I savored the emergence of Kiptum. He was chipping away at the nonsense and injecting needed clarity. I don't care if that comes across as inappropriate now. It's reality.
I hope they were wearing seat belts and not driving too fast. Fast aggressive driving is deadly worldwide.
Very weird post. Very weird.
1. Not the place for your idiosyncratic take on Kipchoge.
2. Terrible roads are more deadly still.
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Damn. Actually brought a tear to my eye. RIP.
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StillRunnin wrote:
Having driven in Kenya, accidents are never a surprise.
I can attest to this as well having spent some time driving there. My father lived in Kenya for 30 years and you wouldn't believe the things he saw driving in broad daylight just to the grocery store. It's not hyperbole to say you're taking your life into your own hands driving there.
And I know it's easy to say "just live somewhere safer" when a young person has to leave behind friends, family, coaches, and in this case, the greatest place to train on the planet. But at some point these athletes need to understand they can still help all those people, just from a place that doesn't pose such a risk. And doing so will actually help both them personally and those they care for in the long run even more.
But all that can be discussed another day. Right now it should just be about the tragedy of losing Kiptum. Just awful news. RIP.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.353 -
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I already go to counseling and it helps me to not be a ghoul like you. I challenge you to be a better person.
RIP Kelvin
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Puhlease wrote:
why was he even driving the car? Why is the marathon world record holder and arguably (former) best runner in the world driving somewhere at 11pm? And without a professional hired driver?
How do we know time of death?
Sad and shocking, RIP. We’ll never know what we didn’t get to see.
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This is incredibly sad. Holy crap…rest in peace and prayers for both their families 😔
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It saddens me as well as reminds me of Sammy Wanjiru. Both were gone at such a young age.
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bah. wrote:
Puhlease wrote:
why was he even driving the car? Why is the marathon world record holder and arguably (former) best runner in the world driving somewhere at 11pm? And without a professional hired driver?
How do we know time of death?
Sad and shocking, RIP. We’ll never know what we didn’t get to see.
Found it reported here.
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Run in Peace Kelvin 💔
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Lets Get Real wrote:
How do we know that Kiptum wasn't wearing a seatbelt?
A restrained driver is not thrown from their car.
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😞
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2 posters have questioned why he was driving between 11 and midnight, as if that’s unusual at all—one suggesting that it was obviously dangerous, and the other going so far as to ask if it was the result of an ongoing crisis situation. Millions of normal people drive between 11 and midnight every day without incident. Just goes to show how people’s imagination runs wild whenever there’s a celebrity death, I guess.
RIP Kiptum, a legend of the sport.
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Holysh-t! What a terrible tragedy!
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Talking with athletes in Kenya, they are speculating why. I will not post it here but remember this was the first Saturday subsequent to his record becoming ratified.
Also, thrown from the car so no seatbelt.
Here is the car post crash.
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Terrible news. He was going to be first to run sub 2 in a race. The loss to running aside, it is absolutely tragic for his family.
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