Avinash Sable showed that he's peaking at the right time before the Paris Olympics as he broke his own 3000m steeplechase national record while finishing sixth at the prestigious Diamond League meet, clocking 8 minutes and 9.91 seconds in Paris on Sunday. (More Athletics News)
The 29-year-old Sable bettered his earlier mark of 8:11.20, which he had clocked in 2022, by around one and a half seconds.
Abrham Sime of Ethiopia finished first with a personal time of 8:02.36 after a photo finish with Amos Serem (8:02.36) of Kenya.
Another Kenyan, Abraham Kibiwot, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist and gold winner at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where Sable had won a silver, was third with a time of 8:06.70.
With this performance, Sable returned to his record-breaking ways after he smashed his own national mark two years ago while winning a silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
This was the 10th national record-breaking performance from Sable, who hails from a humble farmer's family at Mandwa village in the Beed district of Maharashtra.
He was seemingly struggling this season having run just two 3000m steeplechase races, clocking 8:21.85 at Portland and 8:31.75 in Panchkula (National Inter-State Championships), both in June.
Sable, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist, thus improved by around 12 seconds from his best effort of the season.
He had, however, run at the National Inter-State Championships (June 27-30) just like a practice race.
After winning the gold at Panchkula, Sable had vowed to make amends for the mistakes he committed in the last few years and deliver a memorable show at the Paris Olympics with a different approach.
"I committed mistakes in the last two years. I had gone with good fitness in the two world championships (2022 and 2023) but could not do well at both. I want to make amends, hope that this Olympics will be my best," he had said.
"I am starting my competition season late this time. I am doing something different this time. I will start peaking only this month."
In the men's javelin throw, Olympics-bound Kishore Jena continued his struggles as he finished eighth with an effort of 78.10m. He has a personal best of 87.54m and a season-best of 80.84m while winning a bronze medal at the National Inter-State Championships.
Jena, who had won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, has had a forgettable season so far with efforts of 76.31m in the Doha Diamond League and 75.49m in the Federation Cup, both in May.
Jena had said at the National Inter-State Championships that he was coping with a minor left ankle pain, which he felt after the Federation Cup (May 15-19) in Bhubaneswar, though the pain has reduced and he was feeling "almost all right now".
Reigning Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has opted out of this meet apparently due to an adductor niggle that has been troubling him for the past couple of months.
Julian Weber of Germany won the top position with a throw of 85.91m while former world champion Anderson Peters (85.19m) of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (85.04m) of the Czech Republic were second and third respectively.
