Kiptum, 24, was killed on February 11 in a road accident near the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, leaving Kenya and the world of athletics reeling.
On the eve of Friday’s funeral, Kiptum’s coffin, encircled with flowers, was carried in a hearse through Eldoret, some people watching in silence, others singing hymns.
His mother Mary Kangongo and widow Asenath Rotich wept inconsolably at the mortuary as the wooden coffin was loaded into the black hearse.
Kiptum, a father of two, is to be laid to rest in Naiberi, near Eldoret, where the government is building a new home for the national hero’s family.
It is difficult to accept this happened,” said Athletics Kenya executive committee member Barnaba Korir.
“It is a big void in Kenyan athletics.”
Kiptum burst onto the marathon scene in 2022 and shattered the world record in Chicago in October last year.
He ran the distance in two hours and 35 seconds, slicing 34 seconds off the previous fastest time, set by his Kenyan rival, the marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge.
After flying through the course in Chicago, the then 23-year-old waved and blew kisses at spectators before crossing the finish line.
“A world record was not in my mind today,” he said afterwards.
“I knew one day, one time, I’d be a world-record holder.”
He was favourite to take gold at this year’s Paris Olympics, where he was expected to go head-to-head with Kipchoge for the first time.
Known for maintaining a gruelling training schedule that sometimes topped 300 kilometres (190 miles) a week, Kiptum had only recently announced he was hoping to smash the mythic two-hour mark in Rotterdam in April.
“Kelvin, you achieved greatness and inspired us all,” Coe said in a tribute on X last week.
