Born in Kenya's Nandi County, when Kiprotich was just two years old his older brother, Paul Kipkoech, won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics.

That year he also won the 10 km de Clermont Ferrand in a personal best time of 28:41 minutes.

[3] Kiprotich began running longer distances in 2010 and finished in the top eight at the Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon and the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale.

[5] He was the second ranked French runner after fellow African-born marathoner Patrick Tambwé and was selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

[8] On 30 December 2013 it was announced that Kiprotich had failed a drug test directly after his Istanbul Marathon win, having returned a positive result for erythropoietin (EPO) in a urine sample.