WAC22: Avinash Sable finishes eleventh in men's 3000 m steeplechase final
Jul 19, 2022
Oregon [US], July 19 : Indian athlete Avinash Sable finished at 11th position in the final of men's 3000 m steeplechase event at the World Athletics Championships being held in Oregon on Tuesday.
He clocked 8:31.75 seconds, earning an 11th spot finish. Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali finished at the top while Lamecha Girma from Ethiopia finished second. Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto achieved a third-place finish.
This was Sable's second consecutive final at the World Athletics Championships. He had clocked 8:18.75 in his heat which earned him a spot in the 15-man field in the final.
"18th World Athletics championships 2022, Oregon Update's @avinash3000m
finishes Men's 3000m Steeplechase final at 11th position with the time of 8:31.75 Great effort Champ Keep up the momentum!! #Athletics #IndianSports," tweeted SAI Media.
He is a national record holder for India in the men's 3000 m steeplechase. His most recent record came in June during Meeting International Mohamed VI in Rabat, where he clocked 8:12.48 and finished fifth.
Though he could not get a podium position in the final, Sable is still one of India's most talented athletes, with a series of national record-breaking performances.
Avinash could not qualify for Asian Games 2018 due to an ankle injury. He later went on to break the 37-year-old national record of 8:30.88 held by Gopal Saini, by clocking 8:29.80 at the 2018 National Open Championships held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Then he followed it with another new national record at the Federation Cup in Patiala in March 2019, 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 male-male steeplechaser from India to qualify for the World Championships since Deena Ram did it back in 1991.
He won a silver at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in Doha in his debut international event, with the 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 made improvement in the final by clocking 8:21.37 in the final, breaking his own national record and finished 13th out of 16 runners. Sable earned his qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished seventh in the heats and set a new national record of 8:18.12.
