Kiptum was 24 and had the world record he set last year at the Chicago Marathon ratified by international track federation World Athletics just last week.
Kelvin Kiptum celebrates after winning the 2023 Chicago Marathon and setting a world record time of 2:00.35 last October.
Kenneth Kimaiyo, a friend of Kiptum, said he arrived at the crash scene soon after it happened and Kiptum had been thrown out of the car.
Kiptum and Kipchoge were expected to provide an enticing all-Kenyan battle for marathon gold in Paris.
Kiptum was due to start his season at the Rotterdam Marathon in April, which would have been his first event since breaking the world record.
Kiptum had immediate success by running the fastest time ever by a marathon debutant at the 2022 Valencia Marathon.
Samuel Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion who was also tipped to be an all-time great, died in 2011 at the age of 24 after falling from a balcony at his home in Kenya. »
