Kenyan runner, 28, dies in crash, won 400-meter hurdles title
NAIROBI, Kenya — Nicholas Bett, a Kenyan runner who won the 2015 world championship title in the 400-meter hurdles, was killed in an early morning car crash Wednesday in the country’s famed high-altitude training region, police and his coach said. He was 28.
Mr. Bett had only just returned home this week from the African championships in Nigeria.
Nandi county police commander Patrick Wambani said Mr. Bett was killed in the crash on the road between Eldoret and Kapsabet, two of Kenya’s best-known distance-running training towns in the Rift Valley region. He was born and lived in the region.
Mr. Bett was driving alone, Wambani said.
Mr. Bett’s SUV hit bumps in a road and rolled, landing on its roof in a ditch, his coach, Vincent Mumo, told The Associated Press. Mumo said the accident happened about 6 a.m.
“I’m out of words,” Mumo said. “We thank god for his life.”
Mumo said Mr. Bett’s twin brother, Aron Koech, who is also an athlete, was “beyond grief.”
Mr. Bett was also the father of 2-year-old twin boys.
His gold in the 400 hurdles at the 2015 world championships in Beijing was a breakthrough victory for Kenya, normally a powerhouse only in middle- and long-distance events.
The triumph from Lane 8 was a big surprise as he became the first Kenyan to win a major title in the event. It signaled that Kenya was ready to challenge in the shorter distances, too.
It was also a significant personal achievement for Mr. Bett, who was carrying a foot injury and ran through the pain. Since 2014, the injury had become a permanent part of his career and he learned to deal with it.
His victory in Beijing was especially popular in Kenya, where Mr. Bett was known as a humble athlete from a simple, rural background, like many of Kenya’s distancerunning champions.
The difference was Bett wasn’t a natural. Instead, he had to persevere to be successful in a punishing event and one that isn’t popular in Kenya.
He may have been born in the Rift Valley, the heartland of Kenyan running, but he was initially a volleyball player before turning to track and field. He won the high jump at the national junior trials in 2010 and also tried the 110-meter hurdles before finally settling on the 400 hurdles.