Kelvin Kiptum’s family say their dreams and hopes for the future have been shattered following the death of the marathon world-record holder in a car crash on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed near the town of Kaptagat in western Kenya, in the heart of the high-altitude region that’s renowned as a training base for the best distance runners from Kenya and across the world.
Kiptum was driving when he lost control of his car crashed into a tree in a ditch along the road.
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But the circumstances surrounding the accident have been clouded by concerns from his father Samson Cheruiyot.
Cheruiyot said a group of men had come to him looking for Kiptum last week and refused to say who they were or why they wanted to speak to his son.
“They said they wanted him and now that this has happened I am wondering what they were looking for at the time,” Cheruiyot said.
“What did they want from my son because they refused to identify themselves?”
Father and son spoke for the last time a day before the accident.
Kiptum said he was in peak condition and felt he could run the upcoming Rotterdam Marathon in April in under two hours, even predicting he could go beyond 1:59 and crack the 1:58 barrier.
Cheruiyot said his son had hoped to use his running career to build a house and buy a car to repay him for his support after Kiptum refused to further his studies in electric engineering.
“He said that he had enough of electrical wiring, and that if he continued running, he would uplift us,” his father said.
“I accepted and went to book for him a room near the training camp where he stayed until he won his first major marathon.”
Kiptum was an only child after his mother suffered complications following the birth and doctors advised against further pregnancies.
Kiptum’s wife Asenath mourned the loss of the father of her children.
“He loved his children so much, I don’t know what I would tell them,” she said.
Asenath said Kiptum, who also hoped to help fund his wife’s business ventures, planned to take her to the Rotterdam Marathon.