Why Kelvin Kiptum's marathon world record is yet to be ratified

ATHLETICS Why Kelvin Kiptum's marathon world record is yet to be ratified

Abigael Wafula 09:00 - 18.10.2023

An explanation to why Kelvin Kiptum's world record is yet to be ratified.

It might be too soon to declare Kelvin Kiptum as the new marathon world record holder owing to the fact that World Athletics has yet to ratify the record.

The 23-year-old put up a good fight to win the Chicago Marathon in a commanding time of 2:00:35 and completely shatter Eliud Kipchoge’s world record time of 2:01:09.

However, it will take some time before the record is ratified since there are some processes that need to be followed. It took three months for Kipchoge’s record to be ratified.

First of all, Kiptum has to be tested and the results definitely have to be negative so as to move on to the next step. The course in Chicago will also have to be measured to ensure that it meets the standards of the required course as per World Athletics.

World Athletics noted that: “All performances must be achieved on a course which holds a valid International Course Measurement Certificate established no more than five years before the date of the race.

Performances achieved on courses where the start and finish points, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, are further apart than 50% of the race distance are valid for, legal top list, entry standards, and world rankings but are not valid for world records.”

They further reported that performances achieved on courses with a drop-in elevation between the start and the finish which exceeds 1m per km are also valid for world rankings (where a correction is made to the result score from which points are deducted depending on the drop). However, such courses are not valid for legal top lists, entry standards, and world records.

The Chicago Marathon course is certified by World Athletics since it meets the standards of a suitable course and is recognised by World Athletics. The marathon is also among the World Major Marathons which include Boston, Tokyo, New York City, Berlin, and London Marathons.