Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was among thousands of mourners who attended the burial of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum in Uasin Gishu County.
Also present were President William Ruto, Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba and World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
Gachagua said the nation's shining star had dimmed too soon with the death of Kiptum.
“We paid tribute to a great son of the land, a hero of our country who left us as he set to conquer the world,” Gachagua said on X.
Kiptum, whose dreams of breaking the race’s two-hour barrier were ended by a fatal car crash on February 11.
He has been remembered for his talent and humility at a funeral in western Kenya.
The 24-year-old Kiptum had run only three international marathons, but each was among the fastest seven ever recorded.
He set the world record in Chicago in October in two hours and 35 seconds, shaving 34 seconds off his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge’s mark.
Kiptum was buried later in a family plot in Chepsaimo where the government built a house for his wife and two children.
His widow, Asenath Cheruto, said she and Kiptum, who had a traditional marriage in 2017, had planned to hold a wedding in April.
Kiptum had hoped to break two hours at a marathon in Rotterdam in April and was also expected to make his Olympic debut in Paris this year.
