- NICHOLAS BETT & HARON KOECH
Nicholas Bett took the world by storm when he won the global 400m Hurdles title at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing in a Personal Best (PB) and National Record (NR) of 47.79s. Unknown to many, Bett’s twin Haron Koech also competed in the 400m Hurdles in Beijing. Unlike his brother, Koech’s journey ended in the semis where he placed 7th in 49.54s.
Asides the obvious link the pair share by virtue of their nationality, not many outside of the Kenyan team had guessed that Koech was Bett’s twin brother. It is said that the pair inherited running genes from their father Joseph Boit who used to compete in the 100m Hurdles in his younger days.
Prior to the World Championships, Bett had experienced modest success on the continental level, winning two Bronze medals in the 400m Hurdles and 4x400m relay respectively at Marrakech 2014. The same trend is playing out in Koech’s career, as the 26 year old went on to win Bronze in the 400m Hurdles (49.41s) and Silver in the 4x400m (3:04.25) at Durban 2016.
The Rio Games will be the first Olympics outing for the twins who will be hoping to do their family proud. With regards to their sibling rivalry, Bett said: “I will feel good if I win the Olympics. It will also be good for my brother to win because the medal will be coming to the family. We are one happy family.”
Koech echoed Bett’s sentiments: “It is a good feeling to compete alongside my brother in the team since he is my training mate. It is good for family members to run the same race, and taking on my brother will be a great achievement if both of us come home with a medal, because we cannot all win GOLD, but one of us will.”
