Kipchoge, Kiptum showdown loading

By Peter Ochieng

Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum has set his eyes on winning the 2024 Olympic title.

The 2024 Olympic games will be held in Paris, France. Kiptum jetted back in the country on Tuesday morning, after winning the Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:00:35 on Sunday.

In the process, the 23-year-old marathoner broke Eliud Kipchoge's previous word record of 2:01:09 set during the Berlin marathon in 2022.

Kipchoge is yet to congratulate Kiptum for the feat at least publicly, with his followers online wondering why he was yet to share, at the time of going to press, a congratulatory message.

On arriving back, Kiptum said he has set his eyes on winning the Olympics marathon gong, setting up a potential showdown with Kipchoge.

39-year-old Kipchoge will be going for his third Olympic marathon title, after emerging victorious during the 2016 and the 2020 editions respectively.

"My dream was to earn a world record maybe next year or 2025, now that it has come I am so happy," said Kiptum.

He has won all the three marathons he has participated in so far - 2022 Valencia marathon, 2023 London marathon and the 2023 Chicago marathon. The government on Tuesday awarded Kiptum Sh5 million for his exploits in Chicago over the weekend.

"Kelvin Kiptum is the newest millionaire in town. This follows the government’s move to award him Sh5 million for breaking the Men's Marathon World Record in Chicago," the Ministry of Sports headed by Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba shared.

"CS Ababu conveyed H.E. President William Ruto's appreciation to Kiptum on his record breaking heroics, assuring him of the Government's continued support talent development, to build sustainable careers that contribute to the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA)."