Indian athlete Avinash Sable shattered his own national record in the 3000m steeplechase during a sixth-place finish at the Paris Diamond League in the build-up to the upcoming Olympic Games 2024.
Sable set a new national record after clocking 8 minutes and 9.91 seconds, going past his previous record of 8:11.20, which he had clocked in 2022. This was the 10th national record-breaking performance from the 29-year-old.
The race was won by Abrham Sime of Ethiopia with a timing of 8:02.36 after a photo finish with Kenya's Amos Serem (8:02.36). Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot, who won the Gold medal in the Commonwealth Games 2022 - where Sable won Silver - came home third with a timing of 8:06.70.
Sable has run only two 3000m steeplechase races this season - one in Portland and the other in Panchkula (National Inter-State Championships). He was not at his best in both of them, having clocked 8:21.85 at Portland and 8:31.75 in the other one.
After winning the Panchkula race, Sable had said that he would amends for the errors he had made. "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," he added.
Meanwhile, Kishore Jena finished eighth in the Javelin final at the Paris Diamond League with a throw of 78.10m. His personal best is 87.54m. Jena had won a Silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 when Neeraj Chopra bagged the Gold medal.
