Sable cruises to yet another natl record
RABAT (MOROCCO): India’s Avinash Sable finished a creditable fifth at the prestigious Diamond League Meet here and in the process shattered his own 3000m steeplechase national record for the eighth time.
The 27-year-old army man from a humble family in the Beed district of Maharashtra clocked 8:12.48 in a high-quality field late Sunday night, shaving off more than three seconds from his own previous national record of 8:16.21, which he set during the Indian Grand Prix in Thiruvananthapuram in March.
Sable finished ahead of Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Benjamin Kigen of Kenya who ended in eighth position with 8:17.32.
Local hero and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Soufiane El Bakkali won the race with a meet record of 7:58.28.
Ethiopia’s Tokyo Olympics silver winner Lamecha Girma was second, clocking 7:59.24, while his compatriot Hailemariyam Tegegn took the third position with a personal best of 8:06.29.
The 2016 Rio Olympics champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya was fourth with a timing of 8:12.47, a one-hundredth of a second ahead of Sable.
Sable is known for breaking his own 3000m steeplechase national record multiple times. He first broke it in 2018 when he clocked 8:29.80 at the National Inter State championships to erase the then 37-yearold mark of 8:30.88 mark of Gopal Saini.
Last month, Sable smashed the 30-year-old men’s 5000m national record at a meet in the USA, clocking 13 minutes and 25.65 seconds, bettering Bahadur Prasad’s long-standing record of 13:29.70s set in Birmingham in 1992.
Warholm injured
RABAT: Karsten Warholm, the Olympic champion and worldrecord holder in the 400m hurdles, pulled up injured on his return to competition at the Diamond League meet in Rabat on Sunday, just weeks before the Norwegian star defends his world title.
After a blistering start out of the blocks, Warholm abruptedly stopped after clipping the first hurdle, clutching the back of his right thigh.
By the time the rest of the field had finished the 26-yearold had placed ice on his right leg as coach Leif Olav Alnes looked on.
“I am very disappointed for this injury. I think it’s a hamstring tear, I will focus on treating it and come back stronger. I also feel sorry for the crowd,” said Warholm.