Paris: India’s top distance runner Avinash Sable could not keep up the pace and finished 11th in the men’s 3000m steeplechase which was won by Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco in a season’s best time of 8 minutes 06.05 seconds at the Paris Olympics here on Wednesday.
Kenneth Rooks of the United States surprised everyone by finishing second, in a race usually dominated by African runners, with a personal best timing of 8:06.41 while Abraham Kibinoi of Kenya took the bronze medal in 8:06.47 as the American pipped him to the post.
Sable clocked 8:14.18, which is quite slow compared to the 8:11,20 which he clocked while winning the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. The 39-year-old army man had clocked 8:15.43 in the heats, which sealed him a place in the final, making him the first Indian athlete to reach the final of the 3000m steeplechase in the Olympics.
But in the final, Sable could not achieve his best timing and had to be satisfied with the 11th position among 16 participants, 15 of whom completed the race.
Sable started at a fast clip and completed the first 1000m in 2:41.0 and was placed fourth. He was a tad slower in the next 1000m as he completed 2000m in 5:30.9 and slipped to 11th position as the African runners along with the American got into the act.
Sable completed the race in 8:14.18 to eventually finish 11th.
He holds the national record of 8:09.94 set in Paris earlier this year, Sable also won the gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games and qualified for the Paris Olympics after placing sixth in the Silesian leg of the 2023 Diamond League with a time of 8:11.63.
–IANS