Kiptum facing 15 million contract breach allegations after London marathon win

Just a day after a historic outing for Kenyan young marathoner Kelvin Kiptum, who breezed to the 2023 London marathon title in a course record time of 2:01:25, fresh reports have emerged surrounding a shoe sponsorship row involving the 23 year old.

According to a recent publication by Spanish outlet Corredori, Chinese shoe brand Qiaodan is set to take a case to court against Kiptum for allegedly breaching a contract agreement signed between the two parties late last year.

It is reported that after Kiptum’s exploits in the 2022 Valencia Marathon where he made his debut in road running and set a mind-boggling record of 2:01:53, he, through his representative Marc Corstjens, received and accepted a six-figure contract (more than 100,000 dollars - Ksh. 15 million) from Qiaodan to the athlete to dress and equip him, trying in this way to introduce himself to athletics on the road and lay the foundations of a sports project that was going to have Kiptum as a great ambassador.

After the contract signing and amount paid to Kiptum, Corredori reports that the small brand began to work on the promotion of the agreement and even several representatives of the same traveled to Kenya to share time with the athlete.

Taking advantage of this trip, the members of the Qiaodan expedition to the African country met with representatives of Kenyan Athletics, the national athletics federation, to try to make a rapprochement for the future.

With everything in place in preparation for the London marathon, Kiptum is said to have disappeared just two days before traveling to London, didn't pick up the phone and no one knew his whereabouts.

It was then that the company delegation traveled to London to enjoy the marathon and to their surprise, Kiptum - in the presentation of the test held last Friday - appeared in the same dress with the official clothes of the Nike athletes.

New course record, PB for sensational Kelvin Kiptum in historic London marathon win

As seen in Sunday’s race, Kiptum was in Nike gear - clothes and shoes - when he outdueled a strong men’s field including Kenyan compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor and Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola to his maiden marathon majors victory.

It is now understood that the intention of the Chinese brand is to take the case to court and resolve the imbroglio in the most satisfactory way for the firm.