Former world champion runner Kipyegon Bett dies at 26
FILE-Kipyegon Bett from Kenya competes in men's 800 meters during the IAAF World U20 Championships at the Zawisza Stadium on July 24, 2016 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. (Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images for IAAF)
Kipyegon Bett, a former junior world champion runner, died at a hospital after a short illness. He was 26.
Bett won the 800-meter title in 2016 and earned a bronze medal at the senior World Championships in London in 2017.
The Kenyan middle-distance runner died in a hospital in Bomet, Kenya on Oct. 6, the BBC reported.
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Purity Kiuri, Bett’s sister, told the BBC that he was in the hospital since Sept. 30 after he began "vomiting blood."
Kirui, a 3,000-meter steeplechase runner who won Commonwealth gold in 2014, also shared with the news outlet that Bett complained of stomach pains for a month, adding that doctors told the family "He had a liver problem and had been in and out of the hospital."
Bett was the fourth child among six siblings and participated in athletics to follow in his sister's footsteps.
In 2018, Bett received a four-year doping ban and struggled with alcohol use in the following years after he was banned.
Bett returned to the track in 2022 and finished third in the 400-meter hurdles at the Third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting, his final competition.
According to People, Bett also battled depression and did not monitor his diet, with Kuiri telling the news outlet that his condition got worse over the weekend.