Paris Olympics: Avinash Sable goes all out, makes Olympic steeplechase final

Avinash Sable qualified for the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase final after finishing fifth in his heat with a timing of 8:15.43 on Monday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

India’s Avinash Sable competes in the men’s 3000m steeplechase heat of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. | Photo Credit: AFP

When he had about half a lap left to go in his qualifying heat of the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the Stade de France, Avinash Sable was frantically looking behind.

The nearest runner was several lengths behind. As if not entirely assured, the 29-year old from Beed, Maharashtra checked multiple times. Eventually, with about 50 meters to go to the finish line, and Matthew Wilkinson of the USA still several seconds behind, Sable felt comfortable enough to jog through to the finish line.

He clocked 8.15.43.

The timing wasn’t important. What mattered was that he had finished in fifth place. He had qualified for the final of the Olympics in his second time of trying. On August 8, Sable will get on this track once again. This time he won’t be running to make the final. He will be racing to medal.

When he runs, Sable will only be considered a dark horse for a podium, but simply by making the final - incidentally the first Indian Olympic track finalist since Lalita Babar (women’s 3000m steeplechase in 2016) - he would have found a little bit of redemption.

Exactly a year ago, Sable was sure he would be running in the finals of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. He allowed himself to think he might even be competing for a medal. He thought he might have to conserve his energy for the battle of the final so he decided to pace himself. He let others go in front, expend their energy and thought he would come back strong at the end. But he realised too late that he was getting boxed in. He had no space to break out or even to vault the barrier or water jump. He tripped on himself. Ultimately, he didn’t even qualify.

Sable was in agony the next couple of days. Then he forced himself to go to the athletics stadium a couple of days later to watch the steeplechase final from the stands.

“I didn’t even want to watch the final. But I forced myself to. I wanted to watch the race and see how everyone was racing. I wanted to see if I actually had a chance. I wanted to remind myself just what I was missing out on because I was thinking of the final before the final,” he told Sportstar. The experience was more painful than he thought.

The gold and silver medallists were decided at fast enough timings but the bronze went to Abraham Kibiwot, at a modest 8:11.98. Kibiwot had actually fallen in the middle of the race but had got up and still managed to finish on the podium.

In the nosebleed section, Sable berated himself.

“I should have been there,” he remembers thinking.

In the months that have passed, Sable has repeated a mantra. “Don’t try to conserve energy. Dont’ try to be cute. Don’t think you are going to make the final just because you run. Run every race as if it’s your last,” he would say.

That’s exactly how Sable ran his heat at the Olympics. In his white jersey, the dark figure of the Indian was unmistakeable as he went out in front. He maintained his lead for the first lap. He pushed hard enough at the start, and instead of being forced to run in a pack, Sable was in front of a thin line of runners. There was enough space to see his feet when he set up to clear the hurdle and vault the water jump.

After running the first kilometre in a fast 2.46, he called out to the Kenyan Kibiwot and then Ethiopian Samuel Firewu to come forward. They both obliged and set a hard pace. It was exactly what Sable wanted.

Eventually, in the last kilometre, Mohammed Tindouft of Morocco produced a kick that took him in front of Sable. The Indian though was counting the number of runners and wasn’t concerned. He looked back a few times just to confirm that he was in fifth place after all. Assured, he allowed himself to relax.

Even with his coast to the finish, the pace Sable had forced at the start meant that his timing was faster than Olympic champion Soufianne Al Bakalli and Olympic silver medallist Lamecha Girima, who finished on top of their respective heats.

While the pace of the final will of course be different, Sable is confident he will be able to match up.

“My goal was just to finish in the top five. Because of this, I did not go all out in my final lap. In the final, I will give my best and improve on my time in the final lap. I don’t want to sound over-confident but if we look at the results of the last two world championships (where the bronze was won at 8:27.92 and 8:11.98, respectively, and the last Olympics, where bronze was won at 8:11.45), I don’t think it’s difficult to finish on the podium. I will think about winning the medal in the race,” he said.

Sable said he might have to change his strategy. He might start out strong once again or follow the leaders and trust his finishing kick this time. Regardless, he is assured of one thing at least. He won’t be in the stands but in the middle of the track – his destiny in his feet alone.