He is, in a few words, the man who has run a half marathon faster than anyone in human history and beyond. The 29-year-old Kenyan ran last Sunday the 21.0975 kilometers of the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Half Marathon in zero hours, 58 minutes and 18 seconds, taking five seconds off the old world record held by Eritrean Zersenay Tadese since 2010.

But who is Kiptum? Beyond the record, and the fact that he's Kenyan (as usual), who is he in the world of elite athletics? Did anyone know his name before this race? We live in an era where it seems like any given Sunday another Kenyan or Ethiopian with an unpronounceable name will appear and set a new world record in the 10k, half marathon, or marathon. And to some extent, that's true.

Never before has distance running been so well structured and enjoyed such good reputation in Kenya and Ethiopia, and we mention these two countries because they are the mecca of East African talent that spreads throughout the world, owners of the 10 best times in marathon history, to justify it with just any piece of data. That means there are more young talents training with better methodologies than before in search of making a name for themselves and earning a living through their strides, and the potential is astounding.

In this Valencia half marathon alone, 10 athletes broke one hour; it's the first time in history this has happened. All 10 are African, and only 1 is neither Ethiopian nor Kenyan. In 2018 alone, five men have broken 58:45 in the half marathon; before this year, only five men in history had been able to achieve that. There are increasingly more athletes closer to the best times, and the possibility that one of them has an exceptional career at some point, exceptional enough to set a new record, is ever present.

Of course there are names like Eliud Kipchoge, whom we all knew very well about what he was capable of even before this Berlin marathon. But behind the Kipchoges, the Bekeles, and the Farahs come hundreds of athletes with a less famous name but only minutes or seconds behind in time. One of them: Abraham Kiptum.

Kiptum's greatest achievement before this fabulous record was probably a first-place finish at the Daegu marathon in April of this year, with a modest time (I say for the standards of the cream of the crop) of 2:06:29 and a third-place finish in Amsterdam with his personal best: 2:05:26. He had run his best half marathon a month earlier in Copenhagen with a time of 59:09, which is fast but still far from Tadese's record.

So how did he jump from relative obscurity to breaking a world record that had stood for eight years? It seems all the conditions came together in Valencia. The fact that three runners broke 59 minutes and 10 broke the hour suggests that conditions were perfect. According to the race director's explanation to letsrun.com, a storm hit the area the night before and left the atmosphere clean and fresh. That and of course Valencia's impressively flat course, which already knew world records since last year Joyciline Jepkosgei set the still-standing women's record at the distance with 1:04:51.

Not much else is known about Kiptum. He comes from a poor family in Kenya and started late in athletics. His first official records are from 2015, when he was 25 years old, and since then he has run five marathons (personal best 2:05:26) and several half marathons, with 2018 by far being his best year. He has never been to the Olympic Games or world championships. He doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page (at the time of writing this article)... but in exchange, he now has his own world record.