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Kelvin Kiptum: Biography, Facts and Career

Who is Kelvin Kiptum? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Kelvin Kiptum
Katie Chan via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot (2 December 1999 – 11 February 2024) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who held the marathon world record between 2023 and 2026. As of 2026, he still held two of the six fastest times running marathons in history, and was ranked first among the world's men's marathon runners at the time of his death. Kiptum won all three marathons he ran including two top-tier World Marathon Majors (WMM) between December 2022 and October 2023. His times were three of the seven fastest marathon times, setting a course record of less than 2 hours 2 minutes in each race. Kiptum ran the fastest-ever marathon debut at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, becoming only the third man in history to break two hours and two minutes and at the time set the fourth quickest time ever. In April 2023 he ran the second-fastest marathon in history at 2:01:25, 16 seconds outside the world record, at the 2023 London Marathon (WMM). At the 2023 Chicago Marathon, he broke the world record by 34 seconds with a time of 2:00:35, a mark ratified on 6 February 2024—five days before his death—by the international track federation World Athletics. Kiptum and his coach died in a car crash on 11 February 2024 in Kaptagat, a settlement in rural Kenya used as a training place for long-distance runners. Local police said that Kiptum lost control of his vehicle and veered off the road, hitting a tree.

Quick facts about Kelvin Kiptum

  • Full name: Kelvin Kiptum
  • Born: 1999-12-02
  • Nationality: Kenya
  • Known as: Creator
  • Wikidata ID: Q115601844

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Kelvin Kiptum?

Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot (2 December 1999 – 11 February 2024) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who held the marathon world record between 2023 and 2026.

What nationality is Kelvin Kiptum?

Kelvin Kiptum is Kenya.

When was Kelvin Kiptum born?

Kelvin Kiptum was born on 1999-12-02.

Sources

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