Sable finishes 11th in steeplechase final in World C’ships

EUGENE: India’s Avinash Sable finished 11th in the final of the men’s 3000m steeplechase event with a disappointing show on the fourth day of competitions at the World Championships here.

The 27-year-old Sable clocked 8:31.75, way below his season’s and personal best of 8:12.48, which is a national record.

It was, however, the slowest 3000m steeplechase final race in World Championships history with all the three medal winners clocking way below their season’s and personal best. The runners ran a tactical race with medal in mind.

Morocco’s Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, who has a season leading time of 7:58.28, won the gold, clocking 8:25.13, while Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma (SB: 7:58.68), who won silver in both the Tokyo Games and last World Championships, finished second in 8:26.01.

Kenya’s defending champion Conseslus Kipruto (SB: 8:08.76) was third with a time of 8:27.92. Kipruto had won gold in the last edition with a time of 8:01.35.

Sable had qualified for the final after finishing third in heat number 3 and seventh overall with a time of 8:18.75.

He had finished 13th in the last edition of the championships in Doha in 2019 with the then national record time of 8:21.37.

The Indian Armyman from a village in Maharashtra’s Beed district was at 14th spot at the 1km mark with a time of nearly 3 minutes (2:59.46) and remained there at the 2km mark with 5:53.72. He moved up to 12th in the last lap and to 11th in the final 100m stretch.

Sable, who has earlier served at the Siachen Glaciers before taking to athletics, has been on a national record-breaking spree in recent times. His latest best was 8:12.48 when he finished fifth at the prestigious Diamond League Meeting in Rabat last month.