Nairobi CNN —Current marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a road accident Sunday night outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, Kenyan police confirmed. The 24-year-old Kenyan athlete, who was driving a Toyota Premio, and his coach died at the scene of the crash, Elgeyo Marakwet County Police Commander Peter Mulinge told CNN. Kiptum’s world record marathon time of 2:00:35 set in the Chicago Marathon in October last year was ratified just days ago by World Athletics. He had only switched to running the marathon from shorter distance races a year before setting that record pace. He improved his personal best time by 50 seconds to beat the 2:01:09 record set by fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who is widely considered the greatest marathoner of all time.

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Persons: Kelvin Kiptum, Gervais Hakizimana, Peter Mulinge, Mulinge, “, ” Mulinge, Kipchoge, Kiptum, Sebastian Coe, ”, ” Coe, Kelvin, Bob Verbeeck, ” Verbeeck Organizations: Nairobi CNN —, Kenyan, Toyota, Police, CNN, Chicago Marathon, World Athletics, Athletics, Management Locations: Nairobi, Eldoret, Marakwet, Rwanda, Chicago