Who is Avinash Sable? 1st Indian to compete in steeplechase Olympic final

Clocking 8:15.43 in his heat on August 5, Sable finished 5th and took the automatic qualification spot to make it into the 3000m steeplechase finals.

India's Avinash Sable is through to the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase event at the Paris Olympics 2024 and will be fighting against 15 other athletes for a historic Olympic medal on August 8 at the Stade de France.

Clocking 8:15.43 in his heat on August 5, Sable finished 5th and took the automatic qualification spot to make it into the finals. Indian fans were elated when Avinash took the lead in the race for the first two minutes.

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However, the Kenyans and Ethiopians took over as Sable dropped to 4th in the middle of the race. Sable then took the 2nd spot, but a poor water jump saw him drop down to fifth in the end.

It wasn't a total surprise for Sable to qualify for the finals as he is well capable of competing at the highest level in his event. Winning the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou showed exactly what he is made of as the 29-year-old established himself as India's premier long-distance runner last year.

Indian Army shaping Sable's career

Deciding to join the Indian Army early on in his life was the best decision he could have made. It was in the army that Sable explored more about his talent and abilities as a runner and went on to break national records like it was nothing.

His first medal on the international stage came in 2019 at the Asian Athletics Championships, where he won silver in his international debut.

Qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by breaking his national record again, Sable became the first Indian to qualify for a steeplechase event in the quadrennial event since Gulzara Singh Mann in 1952.

Despite breaking his national record for the third time in the heats, he failed to make it to the finals in his debut at the Olympics.

Can Avinash Sable clinch a medal this year?

Winning a maiden Olympic medal in the 3000m steeplechase event will be nothing short of an unbelievable feat for Sable, who finished 5 seconds after Morocco's Mohamed Tindouft, who was the leader in his heat.

However, with Sable's gritty mindset, you can always hope for a miracle from a man who is used to breaking long-standing records in the past.