How 46-year-old Kipkogei overcame harsh weather in Tokyo to win Deaflympics silver

David Kiptum Kipkogei clocked 2:17.30 to win men's marathon silver behind champion Swedish Otto Kingstedt (2:16.10). [AFP]

It was baptism by fire as David Kiptum Kipkogei debuted in marathon running at the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics in Japan on Tuesday.

The weather was unforgiving as the Tokyo Expressway loop was extremely cold; he could hardly feel his toes when cruising over the solid rock surface route.

"At first, I thought I had frostbite. I tried to look for my toes, I could not feel my legs," said Kipkogei who settled for silver in 2:17:30 behind Swedish champion Otto Kingstedt (2:16:10) as Jose Libardo of Colombia (2:23:50) finished third.

Kipkogei was literally demoralized by the punishing weather, foggy conditions and incessant rains that pounded the Tokyo metropolis on the day. But his spirit did not dampen.

So terrible was the situation that the only Kenyan duo, in the women category- Serah Wangari Kimani and Grancy Kandagor- who were also looking for glory in their first marathon outing all lost hope. They opted out in the punishing race at the 10 and 30 kilometer mark.

But they were not alone, it seems the weather was tougher for men who went out in droves, among them who registered Did Not Finish included Peter Toroitich of Kenya, Xu Kuantian of China, Sergio Alfredo (Argentina), Onder Karakulah (Turkey) and Kuanysh Temirbayev (Kazakhstan).

"I thought these were Summer Games, never did I know that I was going to compete in winter," said Kipkogei while shivering after the medal ceremony.

"Although I'm disappointed for missing the gold, I feel inspired to have started my marathon journey with a podium finish. I will still look for this gold in Greece at the 2029 Deaflympics," noted 46-year-old Kipkogei who reiterated that he is not retiring anytime soon.

"I'm now fully inducted into marathon running and will also be competing in 10,000m," said Kipkogei who won men's 10,000m silver medal on Monday the other week, behind champion Ian Wambui Kahinga at the Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium.

"Coming to the marathon race, we had planned for award-winning tactics with my teammate Toroitich, it worked untill the 30km then he got tired, he started to drop, I became disoriented. Our mission, which was to go for gold and silver, went up in smoke, so I decided to battle alone. It was really tough soldiering alone," he said.

And what will he do with the Sh4 million set to be rewarded to him by the state for bagging two silvers from the Tokyo showdown?

"I'm going to buy a piece of land where I'll put up a house and add some cattle. Also, I'm going to open up a business," said Kipkogei.