Steeplechaser Avinash Sable was one of the first Indian track and field athletes to make the cut for the Olympics when he clocked 8 minutes and 21.37 seconds at the 2019 Doha World Championships. But he did not sit on his laurels.
Avinash Sable had erased his own record of 8:21.37 and set the best time so far this year. Yet you wouldn’t have known that by Sable’s reaction because of no celebration, just the routine stopping of the watch he hand times himself with.
The army man from the arid Beed district of Maharashtra broke the national record for the fifth time in his career clocking 8:20.20s and rewriting his previous best achieved in Doha.
It’s been less than two weeks since Sable, among the strongest prospects in Indian track running in recent years, lost one of his earliest coaches, Nikolai Snesarev.
Further, Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports ‘Kiren Raijiju’ himself announced Avinash’s achievement through his Twitter handle. He wrote, “Congratulations to Avinash Sable for creating another national record! Avinash has already qualified for Tokyo Olympics. He set a new national record in men’s 3000m steeplechase with a timing of 8:20.20 at the Federation Cup in Patiala. He broke his own record of 8:21.37”.
Congratulations to Avinash Sable for creating another national record! Avinash has already qualified for Tokyo Olympics. He set a new national record in men’s 3000m steeplechase with a timing of 8:20.20 at the Federation Cup in Patiala. He broke his own record of 8:21.37 pic.twitter.com/t6W4yykrQu
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) March 17, 2021
