Police on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of three of the four men who visited the home of Kenyan marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, four days before he died in a traffic accident in Kenya on Sunday.
Kelvin Kiptum died at only 24 years old
The three were detained at the police station in the town of Kaptagat in the Elgeyo Marakwet region, where the athlete was from, and later they were transferred to the town of Iten, about fifty kilometers away, to be questioned.
Police will question the individuals, whose identities have not been released, to establish the nature of their visit after Kiptum's father, Samson Cheruiyot, raised the alarm hours after his tragic death, local media reported .
Kiptum's father called on the Kenyan government on Monday to investigate the circumstances of his son's death.
''There were some people who arrived a few days ago looking for Kiptum, but they refused to identify themselves. I asked them to show me some identity documents, but they chose to leave. Kiptum was my only son. He left me, his mother and his children. (…) I am deeply saddened“, said Cheruiyot, in statements to the local press.
Although the date of the athlete's funeral has not been officially announced, sources from the funeral committee told the British BBC station that it will take place on February 24.
The 24-year-old athlete died together with his coach, the Rwandan Gervais Hakizimana, in a traffic accident that occurred on Sunday evening on the road connecting Eldoret to Kaptagat (west), in a car driven by Kiptum himself.
The Kenya Athletics Federation (Athletics Kenya) announced on Wednesday that it has canceled the trials for the Pan African Games which were scheduled for next weekend, in honor of the marathon world record holder.
The accident triggered an outpouring of condolences in Kenya and around the world, with Kiptum destined to mark a new era in athletics because of his youth and because he was the leading candidate to run the classic distance of 42.195km under two hours.
Kelvin Kiptum made a sensation in the sports world last year, when he managed to break the world record in only his third marathon race, in October, in Chicago (2h00min35sec), improving by 35 seconds the performance of his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge.
Kiptum had announced that he would try to become the first runner who succeeds in going under the symbolic barrier of two hours, on April 14 in Rotterdam (Netherlands).
