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In a game of cat-and-mouse chase, India’s Avinash Sable remained a mere spectator, while Morocco’s Tokyo Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali showed his class to win men’s 3000m steeplechase gold on Monday at the World Athletics Championships in Hayward Field, Eugene.
Bakkali is the first non-Kenyan to win both Olympic and World Athletics Championships titles.
Sable, 27, failed to track down the leading pack in the medal round and finished a disappointing 11th in the field of 15 athletes. His performance was ordinary as he clocked eight minutes and 31.75 seconds in what was his slowest time since October 2018.
Sable’s season and personal best is eight minutes and 12.48 seconds clocked in June.
“It was a tactical race and he (Sable) didn’t react to the situation,” Radhakrishnan Nair, India’s chief coach, told Sportskeeda after the race.
Sable hurriedly left the stadium as he was supposed to attend a virtual meeting with government officials in India.
Prior to the final race, Sable said he was mentally and physically prepared for the tactical battle.
“I will rely on my fast finish to post a good time,” he had told Sportskeeda on the eve of the final race.
Sable remained at the back of the pack from the word go in the final race. The Indian runner didn’t exhibit his class when it mattered most at Hayward Field.
While the leading bunch of athletes started a long drive home from the 600m mark, Sable was some 10m behind. At the bell, the Indian runner made efforts to recover lost ground, but it was too late.
Sable’s training partner Hillary Bor of the USA said it was difficult to move upfront as there was too much jostling.
“I just managed to stay in the right position but couldn’t find space to move up front on the last lap,” Bor, who finished eighth, said.
Indeed, the leading bunch of athletes were packed together for the majority of the race. Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale tripped in the second-last lap of the race but was quick on his feet and managed to finish fourth, clocking 8:28.68.
Bakkali's winning time was 8:25.13, while Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma took home silver with a time of 8:26.01. Kenya’s Conseslus Kipruto won bronze in 8:27.92 for his fifth consecutive medal at the World Athletics Championships.
