The Athletics fraternity and Kenya in general was thrown into mourning Wednesday morning following the death of 2015 World 400m hurdles Championships Nicholas Bett in a road accident along the Eldoret-Kapsabet road.
He will forever be remmebered for his trialblazing role at the World Championship in Beijing where he won the won Gold for Kenya in the 400m hurdles. His Victory opened the whole nation to the idea of participating in the short races, Kenyans are predominantly middle and long distance runners.
Nicholas Kiplagat Bett (27 January 1990 – 8 August 2018) was a Kenyan track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. His personal best for the event is 47.79 seconds.
He was a world champion in the event, having won in 2015 and a two-time bronze medallist at the African Championships in Athletics.
His first outing at national level was in 2010, when he was a Kenyan junior finalist. He made his breakthrough nationally at senior level with a run of 50.39 seconds to place third at the Kenyan Athletics Championships in 2011. He missed most of the 2012 season but returned in 2013 with runner-up finishes at both the national championships and world trials.A new personal best of 49.70 seconds at the latter meet placed him near the top fifty globally for the season.
Another runner-up finish at the national level earned him selection for both the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 African Championships in Athletics. At the Commonwealth Games he failed to make the 400 m hurdles final and was also eliminated in the heats of the 4×400 m relay after Kenya were disqualified.
At the African Championships in Athletics, he won a bronze medal in the 400 m hurdles, achieving a new personal best of 49.03 seconds, and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay with teammates Mark Mutai, Solomon Buoga and Boniface Mucheru.
Bett began to compete on the international track and field circuit in 2015 and had wins at the Savo Games and Lappeenranta Games in Finland. A personal best of 48.29 seconds at the 2015 Athletics Kenya World Championship Trials brought him selection for the national team and raised him to third on the global rankings.
Bett has a twin brother who is also a hurdles runner.
President Uhuru Kenyatta led the country in mourning the 28-year-old.
“Deeply saddened by the death of former 400m hurdles World Champion Nicholas Bett who died today in a tragic road accident. Bett earned the country great honours in his outstanding victories. My deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to his family, relatives and friends,” President Kenyatta posted on Twitter.
The International Associations of Athletics Federations also tweeted their condolences saying that they were ‘deeply saddened’ by Bett’s passing.
Athletics Kenya also posted a condolences message on their Twitter handle.
“We regret to learn of the sudden demise of one of our top athletes, the 2015 400m Hurdles World Champion #NicholasKiplagatBett who represented Kenya in the just concluded Africa Championships. Our condolences to his family and the entire athletic fratenity.