Avinash Sable falls short of expectations in Diamond League
The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Avinash Sable, finished a lowly 10th in the Rabat Diamond League on Sunday, with a timing of 8:17.18s, over six seconds slower than his personal best. Only 14 out of the 18 racers that started the event could complete it.
Soufiane El Bakkali, the world and Olympic champion of the host nation, shattered the field with his furious pace, with a world-leading and personal-best time of 7:56.68s, the eighth-fastest time in race history.
Getnet Wale of Ethiopia and Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya, who won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, finished much behind them in second and third place with personal best speeds of 8:05.15 and 8:05.51, respectively.
Sable recorded his fourth career-best time, but he found himself unable to keep up with the group that was pursuing him.
At the same competition here last year, he finished sixth with a time of 8:12.48s.
In the meantime, 18-year-old Selva Prabhu Thirumaran broke his own junior national record in the triple jump with a leap of 16.78 metres on his way to taking home the gold at the Venizeleia-Chania World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level competition in Greece.
Thirumaran earlier this month broke the junior national record with a distance of 16.58m at a competition in Havana, Cuba. At the U-20 World Athletics Championships the previous year, he took home a silver medal.
At the same tournament on Sunday, long jump champion Jeswin Aldrin placed sixth with a best leap of 7.66 metres. The national record for Aldrin is 8.42 metres.