Nicholas Bett, the World 400m hurdles gold medalist ready to compete in the race during day two of the Athletics Kenya 6th Track and Field meet at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret County on April 15, 2016.
Factfile on former World 400m hurdles champion Nicholas Bett who was killed in a car crash in Lessos, Nandi County on Wednesday morning.
Former world 400m hurdles champion Nicholas Bett has died aged 28, following a car crash in Kenya. The athlete died at the scene in Nandi County after the car he was driving veered off the road and landed in a ditch on Wednesday morning, local papers reported.
Bett made history at the 2015 Beijing World Championships when he became the first Kenyan to win a world championship gold medal at a distance shorter than 800m.
Nandi Police Commander Patrick Wambani confirmed his death. He said the athlete hit a bump before losing control of his car near Lessos.
We regrets to learn of the sudden demise of one of our top athletes, the 2015 400m Hurdles World Champion. He was on his way home to Nairobi from the African Championships in Athletics in Nigeria, which finished on Monday. Earlier this year he competed in the Commonwealth Games in Australia where he came eighth in the 400m hurdles.
Athletics Kenya tweeted a tribute to Bett, sending condolences to his family and “the entire athletics family”.
Bett has a twin brother, Haron Koech, who is also a hurdler.
PERSONAL FACTS
Name: Nicholas Kiplagat Bett
Age: 28
Date of Birth: 27 January 1990
Place of Birth: Kisii, Nyanza
Coach: Vincent Mumo
Manager: Jukka Harkonen
Family: Married and father to two-year-old twins/second born in a family of three; twin brother Haron Koech is also a hurdler
400m Hurdles Personal Best: 47.79 (Beijing 2015)
OTHER FACTS:
Bett produced one of the biggest shocks of the World Championships Beijing 2015 when he took the gold medal in the 400m hurdles, setting a Kenyan record of 47.79, the fastest time in the world that year.
Few had touted him as a medal prospect heading into those championships, but he had won the Kenyan Trials in a PB of 48.29 just a few weeks prior and, despite carrying a foot injury at the time, had earned bronze medals in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m at the African Championships in 2014.
During his youth, Bett had started out in volleyball before switching to athletics. He initially showed promise in the 110m hurdles but then gravitated towards the longer event and coached himself for a number of years, improving from a 53-second runner into a 49-second performer.
It was in 2014 when his potential caught the eye of coach Vincent Mumo. He introduced Bett to Jukka Harkonen, who became Bett’s agent and organised a link-up with South African coach Hennie Kotze.
Bett’s training stints in Finland and South Africa led to significant technical changes in the way he approached the event. Although he still lacked consistency, Bett showed in Beijing what he was capable of when he got it right.
Various challenges on and off the track prevented him from reproducing his best form in the years that followed. He hit a hurdle in his heat at the Olympic Games in Rio and was duly disqualified but ended his season on a high when winning at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris in 48.01.
Injury cut short his 2017 season, but he returned to form in 2018, recording a season’s best of 48.88 and reaching the 400m hurdles finals at both the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and the African Championships in Asaba.
