Kelvin Kiptum has withdrawn from Kenya's squad for this summer's world athletics championships, in preparation for his bid to break compatriot Eliud Kipchoge's record at the Berlin Marathon.
Kiptum won the London Marathon in 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds - the second best marathon time in the world, just 16 seconds slower than the current world record held by Kipchoge. Photo: Reuters
Kiptum was named in the list announced on June 2 and is expected to help Kenya win a gold medal in the world marathon championships - the tournament takes place from August 18 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.
However, according to the French running community news site Run'Ix , the 23-year-old Kenyan has withdrawn from the world championship list, in order to focus on breaking the world record at the Berlin Marathon on September 24. This record currently belongs to Kipchoge with 2 hours 1 minute 9 seconds set at last year's tournament, when he broke his own record set in 2018 - 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds.
To break the record of his compatriot legend, Kiptum will have to run at a pace of 2:52 (2 minutes 52 seconds per km), or approximately 20.8 km per hour, over a distance of 42.195 km in Berlin, Germany on September 24.
Kiptum has only attempted the marathon twice. In his debut at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, he shocked the world by winning in 2 hours 1 minute 53 seconds, becoming the fourth runner to break the sub-2:02 mark after Eliud Kipchoge (twice at the Berlin Marathon) and Kenenisa Bekele (2 hours 1 minute 41 seconds at the 2019 Berlin Marathon). Kiptum is also the runner with the best time in history for a marathon debut.
At the 2023 London Marathon, he continued to make waves by improving his PB to win in 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds, setting a new record for the race and just 16 seconds off Kipchoge's world record. Kiptum completed the half-marathon in 59 minutes 45 seconds - the fastest half-marathon in the marathon.
Kiptum wins London Marathon 2023.
Previously, in October 2018, at the age of 18, Kiptum won the Eldoret Half Marathon in Kenya with a time of 1 hour 2 minutes 1 second. In March 2019, he made his international debut at the Lisbon Half Marathon, finishing fifth in a personal best (PB) of 59 minutes 54 seconds.
In December 2020, Kiptum continued to improve his PB by placing sixth at the Valencia Half Marathon in 58 minutes 42 seconds. In 2021, he won the Half Marathon in Lens, France in 59 minutes 35 seconds, and finished eighth in Valencia in 59 minutes 2 seconds.
In addition to Kiptum, world half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor and world record holder Brigid Kosgei have also confirmed that they will not compete in the World Athletics Championships in August. According to Kenyan Digest , they want to focus on the most prestigious races on the planet, the World Marathon Majors, later in the year, with Berlin taking place on September 24, Chicago on October 8 and New York on November 5.
Hong Duy
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