Kenyan sprinters shift training camp to Dominican Republic

Kenya's Nicholas Bett will put everything aside to focus on retaining his gold medal at the London World Championships in August.

Bett, 25, was unknown until he won gold in Beijing world championships in 2015. However, he has failed to display similar strength in the Diamond League and the Rio Olympics in the last two years.

But according to him, that may change as he focused on getting his body in fine tune ahead of the new outdoor season, which starts in May.

Together with another Kenyan Boniface Mucheru, the 400 meters Olympic silver medallist and his brother Aaron Bett, they have shifted their training camp to Dominican Republic under the watchful eye of former Olympic champion Felix Sanchez.

"It is going to be a new challenge for me. I have to regain my pride and respect and hopefully retain my title in London. It will be a long process, but I have to start with hard training and that is exactly what is taking me to Dominican Republic," he said.

Last year, Bett said he was being lured to ditch his Kenyan passport for the United States, but rescinded his decision after consultation.

Now as he crossed the Atlantic, his mission will be to polish his skills with the best that was and hope it will be good enough to reign in London at the World Championships.

First it was Sanchez, who came to Kenya for a two-week training exercise and taught the young sprinters the basics, weaning them off the YouTube, which had become their main instructor.

Now they have followed the legendary Dominican for more training. Sanchez won gold medals in 400m hurdles for the Dominican Republic at the 2004 Athens and 2012 London Games as well as world titles at 2001 Edmonton and 2003 Paris. Endit