The story is good but the scenario is a little heated. That of a 13-year-old Kenyan kid spotted by chance by a talent scout after following, without shoes, seasoned runners after his days of work. It is told by Rwandan Gervais Hakizimana, coach of Kelvin Kiptum, new marathon world record holder in 2h and 35s. “ “When we did hill climbing sessions in the forest near his home, he was small but followed us, barefoot, after tending the goats and sheep. It was 2013, he hadn’t really started running yet. »
Ten years later, Kiptum barely needed to start the marathon to dominate the distance, over which he is undefeated at 23. He won the events in Valencia, London and Chicago, each time improving his personal best, now a world reference for the distance (in 2 h 00 min 35 sec). Fans of sporting fables will appreciate the young man’s meteoric rise, others will be tempted by suspicion. We clearly fall into the second category, and we tell you why.
A sparse history
If we were to try the comparison with cycling, where suspicion exists as much if not more than on substance, we could compare him to Jonas Vingegaard. Best grand tour rider for two years, the Dane lacked solid references being younger unlike, for example, Tadej Pogacar. For Kiptum, it’s a bit the same. Not only had he never run a marathon before December 2022 in Valencia, but his performances at other distances were nothing short of amazing. It is also amusing to note that, two years ago, the best marathon runner on the planet finished in 6th place in the half-marathon… in Valencia (in 58’42, which remains an excellent time). His only victory over the distance dates from 2019 at the Lion Semi, in France.
For information, Eliud Kipchoge started marathon running at the age of 28 after a start to his career marked by epic fights against Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele on the long and middle distance. “Kipchoge was a huge track runner, with crazy credentials, he took several years to get into the marathon,” adds Morhad Amdouni’s coach, Jean-Claude Vollmer, in West France. There, a kid arrives, we know nothing about him. In the World Athletics reports (where it appears in 2018, with a semi in 1h02’01” in Eldoret), we have a trace of a 10,000 m in 2021 in 28’27”, which does not It’s nothing extraordinary. »
Magic shoes are no longer an excuse
No one believes in shoes that run too fast since kindergarten. There was indeed a break in 2019, which brought the legend up to date with the arrival of new technology from Nike (carbon blades, air cushion). But we can – and must – consider that in four years, everyone has switched to super shoes and that the material is no longer enough to explain why records can drop like flies. And this, even if coaches continue to hide behind to explain the exaggerated progress of their athletes. In the women’s race of the Valencia marathon which revealed Kelvin Kiptum, the Ethiopian Amane Beriso ran in 2h14m58s although she had not gone under 2h20 for ages. Guess what magical explanation his coach invoked? Bingo, “miracle shoes”. In short, if no one denies their importance, they have imposed themselves like the tree that we like to erect to hide the suspicious forest.
Kenya mired in state doping affair
Finally, and this is a problem that goes far beyond the case of Kelvin Kiptum, Kenya is prey to state doping which tends to undermine the credibility of the performances of its athletes. Kenya has been classified since 2016 in category A of countries under surveillance by world athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), alongside countries such as Belarus, Ethiopia, Morocco and Ukraine. The East African country had (narrowly) escaped being banned by the International Athletics Federation in 2022 thanks to the announcement of firm commitments in the fight against doping. But several dozen Kenyan runners were suspended after testing positive for products last year. As the president of the national athletics federations, Sebastian Coe, said, “the road will be long, we must make no mistake, this will not be resolved overnight”. The one for the credibility of superhuman performances will perhaps be more so.
A message of hope, perhaps…
The new world record holder is, according to his trainer’s story, an immense hard worker, beyond the limits. While Kipchoge runs between 180 and 220 km per week, Kiptum runs more than 250 km per week, sometimes more than 300, assures his coach, who fears that his body will eventually give up on him. As for its sudden appearance in a marathon, it would not come completely out of nowhere, according to Gervais Hakizimana: “In 2020 the Covid locked me up in Kenya, I stayed there for a year and I trained it in the forest. I ran with him, then we attacked a marathon program in 2021.” Which worked quite well.