• Kenyan made history with 2015 world championship gold • Hurdler’s car rolled over after hitting bumps in Rift Valley road

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Kenyan former world 400m hurdles champion Nicholas Bett has died in a car accident at the age of 28.

Bett, the 2015 world champion, was killed in an early-morning crash on Wednesday in the country’s high-altitude training region. Bett had returned from the African championships in Nigeria on Monday.

Bett died on the road between Eldoret and Kapsabet, two of Kenya’s famed distance-running training towns in the Rift Valley.

Bett’s Toyota Prado SUV hit bumps in the road and rolled, his coach, Vincent Mumo, said. Mumo said the accident happened around 6am.

Bett became the first Kenyan to win a gold medal in a distance shorter than 800m when he triumphed in the 400m hurdles at the world championships in Beijing in 2015. He also won bronze medals at the African championships in 2014 in the 400 hurdles and 4x400m relay.

Bett’s twin brother, Aron, was a member of the Kenya 4x400m relay team who won gold at the African championships.