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Indian athlete Avinash Sable’s medal dreams ended after he finished 11th in men’s 3000m steeplechase final at Paris Olympics 2024. Sable couldn’t maintain and his pace and his performance fell short of expectations as he clocked a timing of 8 minutes 14.18 seconds. The race was won by Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco in a season’s best time of 8 minutes 06.05 seconds.
During the race, Sable was unable to improve upon his recent performance at the Paris Diamond League, where he had set a new national record with the timings of 8:09.91 seconds. The 29-year-old, though, took the lead briefly during the contest but failed to keep up the momentum and eventually slipped to 11th spot.
The Maharashtra native has dedicated a significant portion of his time training in foreign lands. After Morocco defended its title, Kenneth Rooks of the USA (8:06.41) won silver while Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya (8:06.47) took home bronze. On the other hand, World record holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia failed to win the race after falling on the track towards the end.
Earlier in the qualifying round, Sable clocked 8:15.43 to finish fifth in his heat and qualify for his first Olympics final. Earlier at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Sable failed to qualify after he finished seventh in heats. He qualified for Paris 2024 by meeting the direct entry standard of 8:15.00.
