Last Sunday (16 July), the 28-year-old Avinash Sable secured his place in the Paris 2024 Olympics after meeting the qualifying standard in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event at the Silesia Diamond League 2023 in Poland’s Chorzow.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, Sable finished in the sixth position with his season-best performance as he clocked 8:11.63.
While the qualifying standard for the men’s 3000m steeplechase event in the Paris 2024 Olympics has been set at 8:15.00, Sable comfortably achieved that to book his place for the upcoming summer Olympics. It was the ninth spot confirmation for India in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Who is Avinash Sable?
According to the latest information on the official Olympics website, Sable currently holds three national records: men’s 3000m steeplechase (8:11.20), men’s 5000m (13:19.30), and men’s half marathon (1:00.30).
In 2019, Sable became the first Indian after Deena Ram (1991) to qualify for the men’s steeplechase event in the World Championships.
The steeplechaser won silver in the Asian Athletics Championships 2019 at Doha, which was also his first international event.
In the World Athletics Championships 2019, Sable became the first Indian to qualify for the World Athletics Championships final in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event. He finished in the 13th position in that final with a national record. In the 2022 edition, he also qualified for the final and ended in the 11th spot in the final.
In the Commonwealth Games 2022, Sable won the silver medal in the men’s 3000m steeplechase with the national record performance (8:11.20). It was the first time since 1994 that a non-Kenyan athlete won a medal in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event in a Commonwealth Games.
Sable also participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he finished in seventh place in the men’s 3000m steeplechase heats (didn’t qualify for the final). However, he set up a national record at that time (8:18.12) and finished as the fastest among the non-qualifiers across all heats of that event.
