India’s rising track star Avinash Sable eyes national 5000m record

Avinash Sable, India’s Tokyo Olympian and 3000-meter steeplechase specialist, has a knack for breaking track records. Since 2018, he has improved the national steeplechase record half-a-dozen times.

Last month, the 27-year-old Maharashtra athlete further improved his own national steeplechase record. At a domestic meeting, he clocked 8:16.21 to better the 8:18.12 seconds set last year at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

This week at the 25th National Federation Cup Athletics Competition in Kozhikode, the promising track runner has set his eyes on the men’s 5000m national record of 13:29.70 set in 1992 by Bahadur Prasad in Birmingham. The 5,000m race is scheduled for Wednesday, the last day of the competition.

Even more astonishingly, Sable has never attempted a 5000m track race in the past. If he achieves his goal, he will be the first Indian to hold both a 3000m steeplechase and a 5000m record.

The army runner has competed on the Indian road racing circuit ranging from 21km to 25km distance, but the 3000m steeplechase has been his preferred event on the track.

Sable holds the national 21km record of one hour and 30 seconds set in 2020. He was the first Indian male runner to break 61 minutes for 21km.

According to a senior national athletics coach, Sable’s current form hints at the possibility of erasing the long-standing national 5000m mark.

“In my opinion, Sable has the potential to clock below 13:30 seconds for the 5000m track race,” he said. “It will be an exciting race as the field is strong in 5000m.”

Abhishek Pal and Govindan Lakshmanan are at least two runners in the group that have clocked below 14 minutes for the 5000m race.

“Pal or Lakshmanan are good runners and are strong contenders for a podium finish," the coach further said. "But it depends on what their race strategy for Wednesday’s track race is. Whether they go all out from the start or play a waiting game and surge in the last lap remains to be seen."

Amrish Kumar, a former national coach, said Sable might have the potential to break new barriers in the steeplechase race, but the 5000m track race is different. Kumar, who was also Sable's coach since 2016, said:

“There is a possibility of a good time in the 5000m race if the leading group of athletes push each other. If Sable runs solo, it will be a challenging task to break the 5000m record."