World Athletics C’ships: Three finalists, two Olympic quotas for India

The 27-member Indian contingent wasn’t expected to win any medal, and it didn’t. Instead, it produced three finalists and two Olympic quotas in what has been a mixed campaign.

File Photo: T. Gopi couldn't match his season's best performance, clocking 2:15.57.

India’s mixed campaign at the IAAF World Athletics Championships ended with T. Gopi finishing 21st in men’s marathon on Sunday.

Gopi, the Asian champion, clocked two hours 15 minutes and 57 seconds to end in the top half among the pool of 55 runners who competed in the race. His season best has been better, at 2:13.39. That is also his personal best, clocked in Seoul in March, 2019.

Gopi had previously finished 28th in the 2017 World Championships, and 25th in the Rio Olympics in 2016. He had been targetting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification mark of 2:11.30 at the Championships here.

Relay teams fail to make final

Earlier on Saturday, the 4x400m relay teams — men and women — failed to reach the finals. The women’s team comprising Jisna Mathew, M. R. Poovamma, V. K. Vismaya and Venkatesan Subha clocked three minutes 29.42 seconds to finish sixth in their heat. The men’s team — comprising Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Anas, K. Suresh Jeevan and Noah Nirmal Tom — ran 3:03.09 to finish seventh in heat No. 2, and 13th, overall, out of 16 countries.

In men’s javelin throw, Shivpal Singh failed to reach the final . He had a best throw of 78.97m that left him 24th in the qualification round.

The 27-member Indian contingent wasn’t expected to win any medal, and it didn’t. It produced three finalists — in the mixed 4x400m relay, men’s 3,000m steeplechase, and women’s javelin throw.

Among them, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and the mixed 4x400m team secured Olympic quotas. Annu Rani, the javelin thrower, finished eighth and missed out on qualification.