Former 400m Hurdles World Champion killed in car crash

28-year-old Nicholas Bett won a gold medal at the 2015 World Athletics in Beijing

An ex-World Athletics Championships gold-medallist Nicholas Bett has died in a road accident back home in Kenya. He died when his SUV hit a bump and veered of the road into a ditch near Lessos, Nandi County. Bett had returned from competing at the African Continental Championships in Nigeria the day before.

The hurdler became the first Kenyan athlete ever to win a short-distance (under 800m) race on the world stage. This was when he claimed gold in the 400m hurdles at Beijing 2015.

At the African Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco he secured two bronze medals - in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay with his Kenyan team-mates - despite carrying a foot injury heading into the tournament.

Mourning Bett's death, the Kenyan Athletics association tweeted:
'We regret to learn of the sudden demise of one of our top athletes, the 2015 400m Hurdles World Champion Nicholas Kiplagat Bett who represented Kenya in the just concluded Africa Championships. Our condolences to his family and the entire athletics fraternity.'

The International Associations of Athletics Federations also tweeted their condolences saying that they were 'deeply saddened' by Bett's passing.