India’s Avinash Sable won the silver medal in men’s 3000m steeplechase event in Commonwealth Games 2022. 

Sable was born on September 13, 1994 in Mandwa, Beed district, Maharashtra. The 27-year-old took up running as a sport in 2015.

The 27-year-old comes from a family of farmers. He joined the army after finishing his 12th grade. Avinash Sable was a part of the 5 Mahar regiment. He was posted at Siachen, Rajasthan and Sikkim.

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In 2015, Sable took up running after joining the army’s athletics programme. He was a part of the Services side that won the team competition and finished fifth in the individual National Cross Country Championship.

After suffering an injury, Sable kept working hard and lost more than 15 kgs. It was in 2017 that army coach Amrish Kumar asked Sable to try out the steeplechase category.

“He had strength and endurance as he is from a rural area. He was very good at cross-country and when I saw his jumps in training, we decided to move him to steeplechase,” Amrish Kumar told Scroll.in.

Sable broke his own national record multiple times. At the 2022 Rabat Diamond League in Morocco, he recorded 8:12.48 in the standing men’s 3000m.

He finished 11th in men’s 3000m steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon, United States, with a timing of 8 minutes and 31.75 seconds. The 27-year-old, at 14th, was behind the pack with half-a-mile to go. He covered three places.

The event marked Sable’s second successive final appearance at the World Championships. He had reached the stage in 2019 in Doha, where he had finished 13th. The timing was his slowest since October, 2019. Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the gold at 8 minutes and 25 seconds.

Records and stats:

National record – 3000m steeplechase – 8:12.48

National record – 5000m – 13:25.65s

National record – Half marathon – 1:00:30s

Silver medal – Doha 2019 Asian athletics championships – 3000m steeplechase

Broke the 3000m steeplechase national record seven consecutive times

First Indian to qualify for Olympics in 3000m steeplechase in 68 years