Avinash Sable won silver in the men's 3000m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday. He clocked 8:11.20 to come second - this is his personal best and also a national record. This is the ninth time Sable has re-written the national record. He is making his Commonwealth Games debut. Sable was just 0.05 seconds short of the gold medal. This is the first time after six Commonwealth Games that a non-Kenyan athlete has earned a podium finish in the event.
This is India’s fourth medal in athletics after Tejaswin Shankar’s bronze in high jump, Murali Sreeshankar’s silver in long jump and Priyanka Goswami’s silver in 10,000m race walk.
Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya won gold with a time of 8:11.15 while Amos Serum of Kenya came third with 8:16.83.
Sable finished 11th in the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase event at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Sable clocked 8:31.75, quite a bit below his season and personal best of 8:12.48, which is a national record.
He holds the national records in three separate events – 3000m steeplechase, 5000m and the half marathon. In 2019, he became the first Indian men’s athlete to reach the final of a World Championships and he very nearly made the final of the same event at the Tokyo Olympics as well.
As recent as six years ago, Sable had nothing to do with athletics. He had joined the Army as a sepoy (private) in the 5 Mahar battalion. He had served in the glacial wasteland of Siachen, the jungles of Sikkim and the scorching desert of Rajasthan before he was chosen by his superiors to run track in an inter unit competition. Since running his first race, his progression has been nothing short of meteoric -- he’s undoubtedly the best Indian track athlete .
Comments
SHARE