India’s Avinash Sable finished 11th in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final at the World Championships in Oregon on Tuesday. Sable registered the timing of 8:31.75 minutes and hence he finished at the 11th spot. Soufaine El Bakkali finished at the top spot while Lamecha Girma came second. Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya came at the third place.
The 27-year-old from Beed, Maharashtra, is one of the most improved Indian athletes in recent times. However, in a strong field at the world meet, his timing of 8 minutes and 31.75 seconds was not enough to earn him a place on the podium. This was Sable’s second consecutive final at the World Championships. He clocked 8:18.75 in his heat to qualify for the 15-man field in the final.
Sable is the national record holder in men’s 3000m steeplechase with a timing of 8:12.48 – which he set at the Rabat Diamond League in June.
Sable’s rise has been constant in the last few years. He could not qualify for the 2018 Asian Games due to an ankle injury but later that year he went on to break the 37-year-old national record of 8:30.88 by Gopal Saini, by clocking 8:29.80 at the 2018 National Open Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
He broke his own national record at the 2019 Federation Cup in Patiala, where he clocked 8:28.94. With this, he earned his qualification for the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships and 2019 World Athletics Championships, becoming the first Indian male steeplechaser to qualify for the World Championships since Deena Ram in 1991.
He won a silver at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in Doha in his debut international event, with timing of 8:30.19. He broke his own national record in World Championships, running 8:25.23 in the heats. After being at receiving end of Takele Nigate’s accidental tripping in the race, he finished seventh in heats and out of contention for finals. After a successful appeal by the Athletics Federation of India, he was included in the finals, becoming the first Indian to do so.
He improved his timing in the final by clocking 8:21.37 in the final, breaking his own national record yet again and finished 13th out of 15 runners. Sable earned his qualification for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished seventh in the heats and set a new national record of 8:18.12. He broke that mark last month.
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With ANI inputs
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