Avinash Sable breaks own national record in 3000m steeplechase event in Rabat Diamond League

India's long-distance runner Avinash Sable rewrote history by breaking his own national record in the 3,000m steeplechase event at the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco on Sunday.

The Rabat Diamond League was Avinash Sable's maiden Diamond League participation and it turned out to be a memorable one for him.

The Tokyo Olympian finished fifth, clocking 8:12.48s, in the Diamond League meet. His previous record was 8:16.21s which he set at the Indian Grand Prix in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in March this year.

Incidentally, Sable's time of 8:12.48s would have helped him finish fourth at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Tokyo Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the race with a time of 7:58.28s. Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, was second (7:59.24s). Ethiopia's Hailemariyam Tegegn bagged the bronze medal.

Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist and reigning world champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya finished fourth, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Sable.

The Diamond League is an annual elite athletics event that has been running since 2010 and Sable is the second Indian after Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra to participate in it in recent times.

Athletes can only compete by invitation. Sable was the only Indian in action in Rabat.

Read: Junior Federation Cup Athletics: Rupal Chaudhary pips Priya Mohan to the post for 400m gold, both qualify for World U20 Championships

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Avinash Sable in great form

Avinash Sable has achieved the qualifying standards for World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games (Credit: Twitter)

Breaking records has become a habit for the 27-year-old as he broke the national record in the 3,000m steeplechase event for the eighth time.

The young runner from Maharashtra has been in great form in the recent past. He clocked 13.25.65s in the men’s 5,000m race at the Sound Running meet in San Juan Capistrano, USA. The timing helped Sable break a 30-year-old national record in men’s track athletics under the name of Bahadur Prasad. Prasad had clocked 13.29.70s then.

The 27-year-old Sable is currently preparing for this year's World Championship to be held in Oregon, USA next month, and the Commonwealth Games to be held in July-August in Birmingham.

Avinash Sable, a silver medallist in the Asian Athletics Championship in 2019, has already achieved the qualifying standards for the World Athletics Championships (8:22.00s) and the Commonwealth Games (8:19.89s).