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Paul Kipkoech first emerged as a distance running talent when he
finished 9th in the 5,000m at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki.
The next year, he finished 5th in the 5000m final at the Los Angeles
Olympic Games. In 1986, Paul improved his 10,000m personal best to 27min
43.31sec, and in early August 1987, he won the 10000m at the African
Games in Nairobi. With this form behind him, Kipkoech was
understandably considered as a contender for the 10,000m title at the
1987 World Championships held in Rome on 29 August. However, few could
have envisaged how totally Kipkoech would dominate this race. As his
coach, Kenyan distance-running legend Kip Keino stated before the race
"we'll take some risks and see what happens".
Kipkoech started the
excitement early, dashing past the entire field at the end of lap four
and posting a 60 second fifth lap, but then soon after, he ran wide to
let the field back through. He made a shorter, but similar burst after
11 laps, further unsettling the field. Near the end of lap 14, Kipkoech
surged away from the field again, but this time he sustained the pace,
running away to win the gold medal (see photo above) by over 10
seconds in a time of 27min 38.83sec. During his career, Kipkoech was a
frequent, but unlucky competitor at the World Cross Country
Championships, finishing second on his first attempt in 1985, fifth in
1986, and then second again in both 1987 and 1988. Kipkoech dropped out
of the Kenyan 10,000m Olympic Trials in 1988 due to a malarial based
illness, and this was effectively the end of his career.
The world
of athletics was saddened to hear that on 13 March 1995, Paul Kipkoech
had died of cerebral malaria and tuberculosis, at only 32 years of age. (Ron Casey)
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