I think what you can attribute this to is he's a special athlete and tremendously talented. You don't normally see young athletes like Kiptum making a tremendous impact on the marathon that young without any track pedigree, but for some reason he's made a huge impression on the long-distance races. And it didn't take that much out of him that he couldn't walk afterwards. He was sprinting in the last 400m which is a rarity for marathon runners. I was analysing his second half of the race and he ran so fast. Natural speed and the 'fearlessness' of youth You understand how your body feels, when you need to rest, when you need to run hard, and you take it from there. He may have trained around other athletes so that he figured what would work and what wouldn't. He got into athletics after being inspired by Kamworor, a world cross-country and world half-marathon champion. In fact, he is from the same village as Geoffrey Kamworor, who finished second behind him in London. Kiptum hails from Kenya's athletics hub in the north-west of the country. That goes to show a level of discipline and a self-awareness. But he still ran the third fastest time ever, sort of on his own. That level of talent and ability obviously has to be guided. When he ran fast on his marathon debut in Valencia last year, posting the third fastest time ever, he found a coach who is willing to guide him.

His strategy paid off because aged just 23, he is not just a world marathon major winner but the second fastest man over the distance (his time of 2:01:25 was just 16 seconds slower than Eliud Kipchoge's world record set in Berlin last September). While many Kenyans fine-tuned their athletics skills on the track or cross-country course under the eyes of a coach, Kiptum's introduction to the sport as a self-coached athlete was a local half-marathon in 2018. London Marathon winner Kelvin Kiptum had an unconventional path to success. There is no doubt he's turning heads, so just how good can he be? And what is the story behind his success?īBC Sport Africa invited Kenyan athlete-turned-commentator Martin Keino, son of the great Kip Keino, to tell us three things you should know about the marathon's newest star.

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