Brussels Diamond League Final 2024: Avinash Sable finishes ninth in 3000m steeplechase
Competing on his 30th birthday, Sable clocked 8:17.09 to finish ninth in the 10-men field on his debut in the Diamond League Final.
Athletics
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable finished ninth in his men’s 3000m steeplechase race at the Brussels Diamond League Final 2024 in Belgium on Friday.
On his 30th birthday, Sable settled for ninth place out of 10 runners with a time of 8:17.09 at the King Baudouin Stadium. He clocked the national record of 8:09.91 at the Paris Diamond League earlier this year.
Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco was stunned by Kenya’s Amos Serem for the top spot. The 22-year-old Serem crossed the finish line in 8:06.90, leaving Soufiane behind by 1.70 seconds.
Tunisia’s Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui soared past the finish line in 8:09.68, beating Paris 2024 bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwot (8:10.51) of Kenya for third place.
Had Sable matched his personal best and national record of 8:09.91 in the race, it would have earned him a fourth place.
Sable finished 14th in the Diamond League standings in the 3000m steeplechase event with three points from two meetings. However, four athletes who finished higher did not compete in Brussels, helping Sable enter the top 10 and qualify for his maiden Diamond League Final.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sable finished 11th in the final with a time of 8:14.18.
On Saturday, reigning world champion Neeraj Chopra will compete in the men’s javelin throw final. He finished fourth in the overall standings after second-place finishes in both the Doha leg in May and the Lausanne event last month.
This is the first time two Indian athletes are competing in a Diamond League Final.
Chopra, the 2022 Diamond League champion, will look to regain the crown he lost to Czechia’s Jakub Vadlejch last year and also his first major trophy of the 2024 athletics season.