The memory of Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum hovers over the men’s Olympic marathon.
His competitors will wind through the streets of Paris on Saturday chasing a gold medal he would have been favoured to win.
They will stare down a world-record time he set.
The 24-year-old marathon prodigy was Kenya's newest star in the making before his death in February, killed along with his coach in a car crash.
His teammate, Benson Kipruto, remembers waking up to the news - he couldn’t train, too heartbroken.
That’s why he will think of Kiptum at the start line. Once the race starts though, Kipruto will focus on running, because that’s what Kiptum would’ve done.
“Kelvin, much like an athlete like Usain Bolt, (is) the type of talent that comes around once in a lifetime,” Kipruto wrote in an email ahead of the Paris Games.
“He was obviously very special.”
For proof of that, look no further than the Chicago Marathon last October. There were pacers lined up to help the marathoners get out to a fast start, but they couldn't keep up with Kiptum.
No one could.
He almost dipped under the hallowed mark of two hours: his time was two hours, 35 seconds, breaking the world record of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge by 34 seconds.
Kiptum and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed in a February 11 crash near the town of Kaptagat in western Kenya, in the heart of the high-altitude region renowned as a training base for the world's best distance runners.
Kiptum was born and raised in the area. He left behind a wife and two kids.
Word travelled fast to the Kenyan runners training at their camp in Kapsabet.
“Someone heard the news during the night and started to wake everyone up to tell us,” Kipruto said.
“The next morning we were supposed to (have) a group training session but we were all too saddened to go for the workout.”
“His presence will remain for so long,” said Hellen Obiri, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 5000m who will run in the women's marathon on Sunday.
“For Team Kenya, it’s like: ‘Let’s do this for him.’ We want to do it for him. We want to do it for the country.”
Kiptum burst on the scene by winning the 2022 Valencia Marathon in a time of 2:01.53, the fastest ever for a debut. The following year, he lowered his time by 28 seconds to win the London Marathon.
It set the stage for his world-record performance in Chicago, a race where he beat runner-up Kipruto by more than three minutes in what would be Kiptum's last marathon.
“All of us know that Kelvin would and should have been in Paris to run this Olympic Marathon,” Kipruto said. “So undoubtedly he will be remembered.”
