Sable breaks national record for the tenth time

Avinash Sable set a new national record in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, clocking eight minutes and 9.91 seconds at the recently held Paris Diamond League. It was an improvement by over one second from his previous national record of 8:11.20 set at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he took silver. This was the tenth time Sable was breaking the national record. The race in Paris was won by Abrham Sime of Ethiopia in 8:02.36. He narrowly edged out Kenya’s Amos Serem, who had the same timing. The third position was secured by Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot (8:06.70). The Diamond League is a set of track and field events organized by World Athletics, the apex governing body for athletics worldwide. Sable is the reigning Asian Games gold medallist in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. According to the Times of India, prior to the latest result, Sable had competed only twice this season. He clocked 8:21.85 in Portland (Portland Track Festival 2024) and 8:31.75 at the National Inter-State Championships in Panchkula, both in June. India’s best steeplechaser to date now heads to the 2024 Paris Olympics scheduled to be held over July 26 to August 11.

Ten runners to represent India at Asia Pacific Trail Running Championship 2024

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has chosen the team to represent India at the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championship to be held in Ulsan City, South Korea, from October 23-27, 2024.

Ten runners will represent India in two categories of races – long trail of 80 kilometres and short trail of 40 km, a statement from AFI said.

Four runners including one woman will participate in the long trail race. The male runners are Hemant Limbu, Prabal Chettri and Kieren Dsouza. Ashwini Ganapathi will be in the women’s team of the long trail race.

In the short trail race, the five male runners chosen are Nimsang Limboo, Som Bahadur Thami, Aman, Nilesh Nandkishor Kulaye and Sandeep Kumar. Nupur Singh will be in the women’s team of the short trail race.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai)