World Athletics C'ships 2023: Avinash Sable fails to progress in final, finishes 7th in 3000m steeplechase
Aug 19, 2023
Budapest [Hungary], August 19 : Indian athlete Avinash Sable failed to progress into the final of the World Athletics Championships 2023 as he finished seventh in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in Budapest on Saturday.
Avinash Sable, who holds India’s national record in men’s 3000m steeplechase with a mark of 8:11.20, logged 8:22.24 to finish seventh in heat one. Only athletes finishing in the top five in the three heats advance to the final, as per Olympics.com.
The 28-year-old Indian athlete was among the top five in his heat for the majority of the race but tumbled at the final water hurdle to lose ground and couldn’t recover in time.
This is the first time that Avinash Sable, making his third appearance in the World Championships, failed to make the final round at the marquee event.
Avinash Sable, the Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medallist, had finished 11th with a time of 8:31.75 in the final in Eugene, USA, in 2022. In his debut world championship appearance in Doha back in 2019, Avinash Sable finished 13th in the final race.
Heading into the Budapest meet, Avinash Sable had finished sixth at the Silesia Diamond League 2023 athletics meet in Poland with a season’s best time of 8:11.63 to meet the qualifying standards for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In the women’s long jump qualification, India’s Shaili Singh, an under-20 world championship silver medallist, finished 24th overall, with a best jump of 6.40m and failed to make the final round. Shaili has a personal best of 6.76m.
The 19-year-old Shaili Singh, who has been training under Indian long jump legend Anju Bobby George, began the qualification with a jump of 6.26m and followed it with an effort of 6.40m and 6.30m to finish 14th among 18 competitors in Group B. Only the top 12 across both groups qualified for the medal round.
Earlier in the men’s 20km race walk event, Vikash Singh finished the highest among the three Indians competing. He clocked 1:21:58 to finish 27th. Paramjeet Singh Bisht was 35th with 1:24:02 and Akashdeep Singh ended 47th and last with 1:31:12.
