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Avinash Sable, the only Indian in action on July 18 at the World Athletics Championships 2022, finished a lowly 11th in the 3,000m steeplechase final.
Sable completed the event in 8:31.75s, way below his season's and personal best of 8:12.48s.
Morocco's Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, who has a season-leading time of 7:58.28s, won the gold medal, clocking 8:25.13s. Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma, who won the silver medal in both the Tokyo Olympics and last World Championships, finished second, clocking 8:26.01s.
Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto, who was the defending champion at the event, won the bronze medal with a time of 8:27.92s.
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It was the slowest 3,000m steeplechase final race in World Championships history, with all three medal winners clocking way below their season's and personal best.
Avinash Sable starts slow, moves up before finish
Maharashtra-based Avinash Sable started on a slow note. He was in the 14th spot at the 1km mark with a time of nearly three minutes (2:59.46) and remained there at the 2km mark with 5:53.72. He moved up to 12th in the last lap and to 11th in the final 100m stretch.
Sable notably improved his showing at the World Athletics Championships, having finished 13th in the last edition at Doha in 2019 with a time of 8:21.37s.
However, it is worth noting that he has improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years. A better performance was expected as he raised his own benchmark with a national record of 8:12.48s.
Incidentally, Soufiane El Bakkali, who won the gold medal, clocked 8:25.13s.
Avinash Sable qualified for the final after finishing third in the heats and seventh overall with a time of 8:18.75s.
Sable, who earlier served at the Siachen Glaciers before taking to athletics, has been on a national record-breaking spree in recent times. His personal-best timing notably came at the Diamond League Meeting in Rabat last month, where he finished fifth.
