World Athletics Championship 2022 | Avinash Sable finishes 11th in men's 3000m steeplechase
India's Avinash Sable failed to live up to the promise, as he finished 11th in the 15-man field of the men's 3000m steeplechase final, at the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon, the USA on Monday. He clocked 8:31.75s in the final, way below his personal best performance.
Tokyo Olympics champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the race at 8:25.13s. With this medal, he also became the first non-Kenyan to do a double by winning both the Olympic Games and World Championship titles.
Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia (8:26.01s) took home a silver, while Kenyan Conseslus Kipruto 8:27.92s bagged his fifth straight worlds medal, by finishing third. Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya finished fifth, ahead of Rio Olympic silver winner Evan Jager of the USA. Sable, on the other hand, could not do much in the tightly-contested race.Â
He had made the final of the event after he finished seventh-fastest overall, among 15 qualified racers, with a time of 8:18.75s. Soufiane El Bakkali had topped with qualification as well with timing of 8:16.65s.
Sable had shown tremendous form coming into the championship and had broken the national record several times, with a personal best of 8:12.48s at the Rabat Diamond League last month. He is the only Indian male steeplechaser since Deena Ram in 1991 to run at the World Championships. This was also his second straight final at the event; He had finished 13th at the Doha 2019 World Championships.