Paris [France]: India’s Avinash Sable finished in 11th place in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday.
Sable clocked 8:14.18 in the final at the Stade de France to secure 11th place in the race.
After the competition of 1000m in the race, the Indian athlete was placed fourth but slowly lost touch with the leading pack and moved outside the top 10.
Meanwhile, Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco clocked a season-best of 8:06.05 to successfully defend his Olympic title and secure the gold medal in the race. Kenneth Brooks of the United States of America won the silver medal after registering a personal best of 8:06.41. While Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot bagged the bronze medal.
In the previous round, Avinash Sable finished fifth in the heat 2 and qualified for the final at the ongoing Paris Olympics.
Sable was quick off the blocks in Heat 2 and set the tone of the men’s 3000m steeplechase Round 2. Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot was the closest to the Indian in the first 1000m of the race.
Sable started to slip up as the race progressed after stumbling in one of the hurdles. After the race started to intensify towards the end.
He finished in the fifth spot by clocking 8:15.43s behind Morocco’s Mohamed Tindouft (8:10.62s), Ethiopia’s Samuel Firewu (8:11.61s), Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot (8:12.02s) and Japan’s Ryuji Miura (8:12.41s).
In Heat 1, Morocco’s Soufiyane El Bakkali finished first by clocking 8:17.90s and qualified for the final.
The other four qualifiers included Uganda’s Leonard Chemutai (8:18.19s), Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale (8:18.25s), Spain’s Daniel Arce (8:18.31s) and Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaziri (8:18.33).
The winner of the national trials, Kenya’s Amos Serem, ended in the sixth spot after he messed up the water jump. He had to go back around and had to try it again. As a result, he failed to make the cut for the final.