Kelvin Kiptum: The greatest "what if" in all sport?

Steve Prefontaine. It's eerily similar in many ways, including that the death was because of a car crash. History repeats itself.

Ivo Van Damme may have made things more difficult for Coe and Ovett

It possibly is, if you are talking early deaths.

Ivo Van Damme's death was a big what if, not only for what he may have achieved, but also because it would have shaken up the whole Coe and Ovett rivalry.

Rudolf Harbig may have gone on to further smash his 800m WR even become the first sub 4 miler over a decade before Bannister.

Lets not forget the elephant in the room. Probably the large majority of people here thought Kiptum was doping here before last night. Now we will never know.

Maybe he would have won 4 Olympic golds run 1:58. Maybe he would have been suspended. Maybe he would have gotten injured or burnt out after several years of 300km weeks?

Maybe with more elites going straight into the marathon young and running crazy mileage, sub 2 hour marathons will be common in ten years?

I also wonder if his gruelling traning regime had anything to do with him losing control of his car at 11pm? Or perhaps him and his coach were arguing?

A 4th place Olympic also-ran is not similar to a world record setter who never lost a marathon.

Prefontaine for sure. He had such a legendary status by the time he died. Kiptum had just stamped his authority with the WR and was on the up and up but didn’t have the same type of cult following as it was still so early in his career. Such a super tragic loss.

Roberto Clemente could be added. He was in the twilight of his career when he died in the plane crash on a humanitarian mission.

You guys keep comparing Kiptum to Pre. Please. Kiptum was one of the greatest marathoners the world has ever seen. He is the world record holder in the marathon. He had a good shot at winning golds in Paris and Los Angeles and of course might have been the first to break 2 hours in a legitimate race. He was undefeated in the marathon, never ran slower than 2:01:53. He has three of the top seven best times ever run in the marathon.

By strong contrast, Pre never set a world record, never won an Olympic medal. He was an also-ran in Munich. He is beloved for pushing the pace, a tactic that did not work in the biggest race of his life and which he pursued because his kick was inferior to those of other runners.

In the 5000, Pre was ranked 4th in the world in 1972, 5th in 1973, and 6th in 1974. In the 10000, he ranked 10th in the world in 1974. His best time, 13:21, is closer to the current women's WR than the current men's WR. He is the 925th best performer on the world list. Even with super shoes, I doubt he could've broken 13 minutes (something 128 people have done).

Pre was good for an American runner but likening him to Kiptum is absurd.

Also, Pre was drunk driving when he died. He has no one to blame but himself. We do not know the details of Kiptum's death, but I doubt he was drunk.

Prefontaine wasn't in the same stratosphere as Kiptum.

He literally broke new ground in running, made Prefontaine look a hobby joggers in comparison

I always thought he was legendary because he died young. He hadn't actually achieved much except be the big hope for American distance running.

Yes. Pre's PR in the 10000 meters -- 27:43 -- is similar to Kiptum's split for his last 10K in his WR marathon.

Kiptums continued progression was almost too good to be true

Has to be Wanjiru. What he could have run in the new shoes...

meh, there'll be another talented kenyan/ethiopian who runs 200 miles a week coupled with steroids who will challenge the 2 hr barrier

please, enough with the drunken bum who never won a major international event outside the us and never got a wr in anything.

Sammy Wanjiru.

You can honor one legend without denigrating another. Pre was awesome. Unlike Kiptum who excelled in only one event, Pre held every American record from 2K to 10K and he was a cross country stud too. Neither Kiptum nor Pre won an Olympic medal so they are even there.

Yes, Kiptum’s shoe-aided marathon times are more impressive than anything that Pre ran, but it’s not just about the quality of their running performances. Pre was a huge advocate for athletes’ rights and an ambassador for the sport who had a huge impact on track & field athletes being able to earn a living in the sport. You can’t say Kiptum was as big as Pre in terms of advocacy and ambassadorship.

Both legends were awesome in their own ways, and they unfortunately died at the same young age. RIP to both.

I agree with this, but I think a sub 2 by Kiptum would have put him up there with Roger Bannister.

Kipchoge would have been a footnote in the story of the Kiptum sub 2.

I don't think Pre had that kind of scope. But who knows?

Len Bias, the 1986 Celtics draft pick.

Cant think of anyone in sports.

But Heath Ledger had a similar (as KK) impact in his field of work after his epic joker performance.