Kelvin Kiptum

Kiptum at the 2023 London Marathon
Personal information
Full name	Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot
Nationality	Kenyan
Born	(1999-12-02) 2 December 1999 (age 24) Chepsamo, Chepkorio, Kenya
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Kenya
Sport	Athletics
Event	Long-distance running
Coached by	Gervais Hakizimana (2023–)[2][3]
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	1st (Marathon, 2023)[4]
Personal best	Marathon: 2:00:35 WR (Chicago 2023)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Kenya World Marathon Majors 2023 London Marathon 2023 Chicago Marathon

Kelvin Kiptum Cheruiyot (born 2 December 1999)^[5] is a Kenyan long-distance runner and the marathon world record holder. He is the only person in history to run the marathon under two hours and one minute in a record-eligible race. He has run three of the seven fastest marathons in history.

Kiptum won three marathons he participated in, all renowned, including two top-tier World Marathon Majors (WMM), and held between December 2022 and October 2023. The times he achieved are three of the six fastest times in history, a course record under 2:02-hour in each case, making him the only man ever to break this barrier thrice.

He 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 setting the then fourth-quickest time ever.^[6] Kiptum followed it up four months later with the second fastest marathon in history at 2:01:25, 16 seconds outside the world record, at the 2023 London Marathon (WMM).^[7] In his next race, the Chicago Marathon (WMM) six months later in October 2023, the 23-year-old broke the world record by 34 seconds with a time of two hours 35 seconds.

Early and personal life

Kelvin Kiptum grew up in Chepsamo village, Chepkorio – the high-altitude (~2600 m) area in picturesque Elgeyo-Marakwet County in the Kenya's Rift Valley. It is located some 30 km east of Eldoret, on the southeastern border of the Kaptagat forest, and just near the edge of the meridional Elgeyo (Keiyo) escarpment to the east, which rapidly gives way to the lower Kerio Valley (800–1200 m). Together with nearby counties the region is known as the birthplace of many renowned Kenyan runners and as a mecca for also foreign runners. As a young boy, he herded his family's cattle and began following barefoot other runners along the forest trails. Kiptum started training around 2013, when he was 13 years old.^[8][9] He is married to Asenath Rotich and they have two children.^[10]

Career

In 2013, at the age of 13, Kiptum contested his first half marathon, the Family Bank Eldoret Half Marathon in his native Kenya, finishing 10th; he placed 12th the following year.^[11] In 2018, the teenager took his first victory, winning this race with a time of 62:01.^[11][5] He was self-coached at the time.^[7] Kiptum then debuted on the international stage at the Lisbon Half Marathon, Portugal, in March 2019, finishing fifth with a new personal best of 59:54. He participated also in six other races that year touring the north and west Europe,^[5] and winning the tough Kass Half Marathon back home in November.^[12] It was reported that in 2020 Kiptum had started working with Rwandan 3000 metres steeplechase record holder Gervais Hakizimana as a coach, although Kiptum supposedly had periodically trained alongside other youths with him since 2013.^[7][2][3] Since about 2020 he was already preparing for the marathon distance.^[8] In December that year, the 21-year-old set significant consecutive lifetime best in the half marathon at 58:42, placing sixth at the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain. In 2021, he ran 59:35 and 59:02 half marathons in Lens, France (first) and Valencia again (eighth), respectively.^[5]

2022: Third man ever to break 2:02 in the marathon

In December, 23-year-old Kiptum pulled off an upset when debuting in the classic 42.195 km distance at the Valencia Marathon. Running with a negative split, he took the victory with the fourth-fastest time ever of 2:01:53, becoming only the third man in history to break two hours and two minutes. Only his compatriot and world record holder Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:09 then WR and 2:01:39) and Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele (2:01:41) had run faster up to that point. Kiptum set the quickest second half in marathon history with a time of 60:15 (including 14:00 from 30-35k and 28:05 between 30-40k). His winning time was by far the fastest marathon debut in history, smashing the course record by over a minute. He also beat runner-up by more than a minute and the 2022 world marathon champion Tamirat Tola, pre-race favourite, among others.^[13][14][6]

2023: #2 performance all time, and World marathon record – first man under 2:01

In his following race, a debut in a World Marathon Major at the London Marathon in April, Kiptum triumphed decisively in rainy conditions with the second-fastest mark in history at 2:01:25, a course record which was only 16 seconds outside the world record. Achieving a negative split again, with the 61:40 first half of the race, he broke from the field after the 30 km mark and completed the final half in 59:45 – the fastest half marathon in a full marathon race ever up to that point (coupled with a record 13:49 from 30-35k at a swift 2:45.8 min/km pace = 21.71 km/h for a total of 27:50 between 30-40k).^[15] He beat second-placed compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor, who comes from the same village and had inspired young Kiptum to athletics, by nearly three minutes and Kipchoge's course record of 2:02:37 by more than a minute.^[16][17][7]

In his following race, being his third marathon and a second World Marathon Major at the Chicago Marathon on 8 October – still aged 23, Kiptum set a new world record with a time of two hours 35 seconds, slicing 34 seconds off Kipchoge's standard set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon and obliterating the course record by more than three minutes. Kiptum negative split again but this time the first half was covered in 60:48, almost a minute faster than in London (though still 14 seconds behind the world record pace), and he had the stamina to run his second half at 59:47 – only two seconds slower than in London, where he set the quickest half in a marathon. As in Valencia and the England capital, the Kenyan made his trademark move roughly near the 30k checkpoint. After 29th kilometre in a fast 2:35, he clocked a record 13:35 from 32-37k at a swift 2:43 min/km pace = 22.09 km/h. Thus, Kiptum averaged 2:51 min/km pace for the entire distance (20.995 km/h).^[18][19] He ran at the front after the 15k checkpoint, without a pacemaker after halfway, and alone from 30th kilometre onward, beating the runner-up – his compatriot Benson Kipruto – by almost three and a half minutes.^{[20][21][22][note 1]}

Training regimen

Following Kiptum's record-breaking performance in October 2023, his coach provided insight on the athlete's training regimen. Gervais Hakizimana stated that Kiptum logged 250 to 280 km (155–173 mi) per week in the lead-up to that year's London Marathon in April. His routine regularly featured daily morning runs spanning 25–28 km, track or fartlek workouts on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and intense long runs of 30–40 km at close to marathon pace on Thursdays and Sundays.^[23][2] He trained alternately in high-altitude area of Chepkorio and nearby Kerio Valley (800–1200 m) before Chicago Marathon.^[24]

Achievements

Information from World Athletics profile and rankings.^[5] Note that personal bests are given with their current status while statuses and positions on the all-time top list shown in the competition record section are provided as of date they were achieved. Course record statuses according to sources cited in the article.

Personal bests

Marathons

World Marathon Majors Series timeline