History-making Kelvin Kiptum awarded 5 million after Chicago heroics
10th October 2023
Kiptum clocked 2:00.35 to break Kipchoge's marathon record by 34 seconds.
- Kiptum was hosted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Tuesday afternoon at Weston Hotel in Nairobi.
- Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba presented the 5 million cheque to the marathon record holder.
- Kiptum became the second athlete to benefit from the reward scheme after 1500m specialist Faith Kipyegon
Just two
days after becoming the new marathon world record holder, Kelvin Kiptum was
rewarded with 5 million Kenyan shillings upon his arrival back to the country
on Tuesday afternoon.
On the day
that the country was celebrating Utamaduni Day, Kiptum was treated to a warm
welcome after his history making exploits in the 2023 Chicago Marathon held on
Sunday.
In the
race, the 23-year-old set a new world record when he clocked 2:00.35 to shatter
the old record of 2:01:09 set by the legendary Eliud Kipchoge in the 2022
Berlin Marathon.
In the
process, the athletic sensation became the first man in history to break the
2:01 mark as he cut 34 seconds from Kipchoge’s time in what was just his third
marathon event in his budding career.
Speaking
during Kiptum’s welcoming party, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba handed
over the 5 million cheque as part of the government’s reward scheme to athletes
who achieve the incredible feat of breaking a world record.
“We want our
athletes to be proud to wear the Kenyan kit and to represent the country. As a
government we are putting everything in place to ensure we give them the very
best and one of the things we rolled out is this reward scheme for breaking a
world record. Kiptum will now receive 5 million shillings for his latest
achievement,” the CS said.
“To have
such an elite athlete without any doping issues is really encouraging. We have
declared total war on doping, and to have someone like Kiptum breaking world
records without any doping issues is an example that our upcoming athletes need
to follow," he added.
Kiptum
became the second athlete to benefit from the reward scheme after 1500m
specialist Faith Kipyegon who was also given the same amount back in July when
she broke the 1500m and 5000m records at the time.
Despite
only having made his marathon debut 10 months ago, Kiptum now has three of the
six fastest times in history to his name. Only Kipchoge (with 2:01:09 and
2:01:39) and Kenenisa Bekele (with 2:01:41) have ever gone faster than the
slowest of Kiptum’s times.
Kiptum won on his debut marathon last December at Valencia (2:01.53) and then in the London Marathon last April (2:01.25).