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India’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medalist in men’s 3000m steeplechase, Avinash Sable, began his season at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia on Saturday (February 18).
Sable finished 35th on a challenging 10km course to clock 31 minutes and 43 seconds. India’s Anand Singh finished down the ladder in 35 minutes and 20 seconds.
Sable, a national record holder in the 3000m steeplechase and 5,000m has been racing on track and road for the past five years, but the 2023 World Cross Country Championships was his first off-the-track international race. The Indian army runner was the first among the Asian nations to finish a creditable 35th on his debut.
Results of the 10km race at World Cross Country Championships
The African nation maintained a tradition of distance running in Australia on Sunday by winning senior men and women’s individual and team titles.
Uganda’s 22-year-old Jacob Kiplimo outclassed a strong field to win senior men’s individual title with a time of 29 minutes and 11 seconds, and his efforts also enabled Uganda to win team bronze. Kenya won the team gold, while Ethiopia team got silver.
The senior women’s title went to Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet whose winning time on the five-lap course (10km) was 33 minutes 48 seconds, while pre-race favorite Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia fell meters before the finish line, but Ethiopian spectators jumped over the fence to assist her. However, outside help led to her disqualification.
India’s distance runner Parul Chaudhary finished 20th in the senior women’s race as she clocked 35 minutes 39 seconds for the course. Sanjivani Jadhav (47th) and Chhavi Yadav (55th) were the other two Indian female runners in the field.
According to the athletics coach, associated with the national camp in Bengaluru, to prepare for the upcoming international events, including the Asian Championships and the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Indian middle and long distance runners will practice in Colorado Springs, USA. The postponed 2022 Asian Games in China is the third major international event in 2023.
“A small crore group of athletes, including Sable, have been shortlisted for the exposure tour starting next month in USA,” the athletics coach added.
