Avinash Sable became the first Indian man to qualify for the 3000m steeplechase final after finishing fifth in his heat at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Quarter-miler Kiran Pahal failed to secure an automatic semi-final berth in the women’s 400m, finishing seventh in her heat.
Sable, a top track and field athlete alongside Neeraj Chopra in the current contingent, clocked 8:15.43 minutes to finish fifth in the second heat, advancing to the final round. According to the rules, the top five athletes in each of the three heats qualify for the final.
Sable’s heat time was below his best effort of 8:09.91 minutes, recorded at the Paris Diamond League last month. Morocco’s Mohamed Tindouft won the heat with a time of 8:10.62 minutes, followed by Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia at 8:11.61 minutes, Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya at 8:12.02 minutes, and Ryuji Miura of Japan at 8:12.41 minutes.
Among the 15 finalists, Sable is ranked fifth based on the timing, with second heat qualifiers having the best timings. Sable led in the first two laps before slowing down but remained in the leading pack to qualify for the final.
Earlier, Kiran Pahal, who turned 24 on Monday, clocked 52.51 seconds, below her season’s and personal best of 50.92 seconds. World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won the heat with a time of 49.42 seconds, followed by Aaliyah Butler of the USA at 50.52 seconds and Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria at 50.67 seconds.
The top three in each of the six heats advanced to the semi-finals, while others, except for DNS (Did Not Start), DNF (Did Not Finish), and DQ (Disqualified), moved to the repechage round to be held on Tuesday.
Pahal had qualified for the Paris Olympics after clocking her personal best of 50.92 seconds in the National Inter-State Championships in June. The Paris Olympics introduced a repechage round for all individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including hurdles events.
The new format replaced the previous one where some athletes advanced to the semi-finals through the fastest times in addition to top placings in the first-round heats.
Now, only athletes in the top placings get automatic qualification, while the remaining athletes get a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals through repechage heats.
(With inputs from PTI)
Nigel Farage
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