Kenyan athlete Charles Kipsang Kipkorir has died after completing the 29th edition of the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, taking the 16th position in the Senior Men category.
Kipkorir, 32, collapsed several minutes after crossing the finish line at the Molyko Stadium and efforts by the medical team to revive him proved futile.
Authorities had already handed over winners’ prizes and gifts when he was confirmed dead at the Buea Regional Hospital this evening.
South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, says medics are yet to know what killed him, amid reports that he died of a heart attack.
“When the Minister and myself had left the stadium, some 30 minutes after, we were informed that when he was going to collect his own prize, he fell down [and] collapsed. They carried him to the Regional Hospital, he had already passed away,” said Okalia Bilai after visiting the Buea Regional Hospital on Saturday evening.
“So we cannot say exactly what happened. But he was good, he was fine after the race. He spoke directly with the president of the federation, Mr Motombi who said that he was well, he was good…,” he added.
Kipsang was on the verge of winning the race when he suddenly stopped, before continuing.
He was the first athlete to arrive at the Mount Cameroon summit and was hyped on the media as he took the lead during the descending journey.
But he “disappeared” just a few kilometers to the finish point, paving way for Cameroonian-born Elvis Nsabinla, who emerged champion.
This was Kipsang’s fourth time of participating at the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, where 19 Kenyan athletes participated.
Kipsang Charles is the second world-renowned Kenyan athlete to tragically pass away within two weeks.
Indeed, the President of the Republic of Kenya has just returned from Chepkorio, a town in northwestern Kenya where he presided yesterday, Friday February 23, at the funeral of Kelvin Kiptum, marathon world record holder, who died at the age 24 in a road accident on February 11, 2024 in Kaptagat, Kenya.
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