The funeral for Kenya’s world marathon record-holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a weekend car crash, will be held on February 24, an athletics official said on Wednesday, with the government promising a “heroic farewell”.
Kiptum will be buried at the family home in Chepsamo near Eldoret, the heartland of Kenyan distance running in the west of the country, Athletics Kenya executive committee member Barnabas Korir told AFP.
“We have settled on February 24 following consultations with the family and the government which have taken over all the funeral arrangements and protocol,” Korir said, a day after visiting the bereaved family.
Police said Kiptum, a 24-year-old father of two, was killed after the car he was driving veered into a ditch and ploughed into a tree in the Eldoret area on Sunday night.
His Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana also died in the accident while a woman passenger was injured.
Kiptum’s death, just four months after he broke the world marathon record, shocked Kenya and the world of athletics.
“We expect some high dignitaries to attend the burial including the President William Ruto and the head of World Athletics Seb Coe,” Korir said.
He added that the funeral service would be funded by the government.
‘Sporting powerhouse’
“In honour of Kenya’s departed world marathon record holder, a true national hero, the Government will support Kiptum’s family in according him a befitting heroic farewell,” Kenya’s cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Kiptum was a sporting powerhouse whose record shattering achievements inspired millions around the world. He remains the only human in history to run a marathon under two hours and 1 minute.”
Kiptum shattered the world record in Chicago in October last year, slicing 34 seconds off the previous fastest time set by his Kenyan rival, Eliud Kipchoge.
The young athlete had competed in only three marathons, and recorded three of the all-time fastest seven times for the event.
He was the favourite to take gold at the Paris Olympics, where he was expected to go head to head with Kipchoge for the first time.
Athletics trials cancelled
Athletics Kenya also announced it was cancelling trials for the African Games that had been due to take place this coming Friday and Saturday “in honour of the late Kelvin Kiptum”.
It said the selection process for the team to represent Kenya at the Games in Ghana’s capital Accra next month will take place on an as yet unspecified date.
Tributes have poured in for Kiptum, with Coe describing him as “an incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy”.
Kiptum was the latest in a number of Kenyan athletes to have lost their lives in recent years, and lawmakers on Tuesday had called for support and protection for the country’s sporting talent.
The cabinet said it noted “interventions” by the sports ministry for improved protections for athletes, without giving details.
It also urged road users to uphold traffic laws and practice safe road use to prevent “tragedies such as the one that robbed Kenya and the world of Kelvin Kiptum”.
According to National Transport and Safety Authority figures, the number of people injured in road accidents in Kenya rose by about five percent last year to a total of 22,885, including 4,324 fatalities.
Between the beginning of January this year and February 11, the number of recorded deaths on the roads was 563, up almost five percent from the same period last year.
