David Rudisha has urged the Kenyan team to the World Indoor Championships to perform well and lift the spirits of the country that has now been thrown into mourning.
World 800m record holder David Rudisha has dearly mourned the demise of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum.
Earlier this week, Kiptum died along with his coach in a car accident and on Thursday Henry Rono, who set world records in the 3000m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and 10,000m had passed away at the age of 72.
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“The country is going through a very sad moment. We lost one of our great athletes in Kelvin Kiptum, who was very promising," Rudisha told Athletics Weekly.
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“It’s very tragic. We are still in shock but we encourage our athletes to keep on doing what they’ve been doing and training hard because this is also a very important year for our country.
“It is sad that these things have happened but at the same time you don’t know what life brings sometimes and yes we just have to accept and move forward."
He added that Kiptum was an upcoming athlete who was one of the best, running very fast times and within no time breaking the world record.
“To have Eliud [Kipchoge] as one of the greatest marathon runners showing the road to these young athletes following behind it’s really an incredible honour. But to lose such a young, talented athlete is a huge loss for our country and of course for his young family,” Rudisha added.
With the country being in a somber mood, Rudisha has urged the Kenya team to next month’s World Indoor Championships to help lift a nation which is in mourning following the death of two of its major athletics figures.
Rudisha believes the country’s line-up, which includes Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala in the men’s 60m and women’s 3000m steeplechase world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech in the 3000m, can start the work of recovering from the losses.
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