Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum celebrates winning the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Illinois, in a world record time of two hours and 35 seconds on October 8, 2023.
The 23-year-old got more than he had bargained for when he shattered Kipchoge’s one-year-old marathon world record by 34 seconds to mark his rapid ascendance in long distance running
Kipchoge’s world record looked beyond reach after he became the first man to run under two hours and two minutes when winning in 2018 Berlin in 2:01:39 before bettering it on September 22, last year with 2:01:09
Kiptum collected US$150,000 (Sh22.05m) from his exploits in Chicago which includes US$ 100,000 (Sh14.7m) for his victory and an additional US$ 50,000 (Sh7.4m) in bonuses for running sub 2:05:37
Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya lined up at the start of Chicago Marathon on Sunday as the second fastest man in the marathon, and didn’t want to raise his hope of a world record high, only saying that he was aiming at the course record.
He is the same athlete who had broken Olympics marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge’s course record when winning the London marathon in two hours, one minute and 25 seconds on April 13, but even then, breaking Kipchoge’s world record wasn’t in his mind.
