Will focus on steeplechase till 2024 Olympics, says national record holder Avinash Sable

Mumbai: Avinash Sable broke the 30-year-old national record in 5000 metres last month and had reset the national record in half-marathon while bagging gold in Delhi last year. Many experts feel that he has the talent to do well in distances longer than 3000m.

However, the 27-year-old Sable from Mandwa village in Ashti taluka in Beed district of Maharashtra does not have any plans to branch out into long-distance running and wants to concentrate only on 3000m steeplechase till the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. He will like to take up full marathon running after that.

Sable, who participated in the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco a few days back, improved the national record in men’s 3000m steeplechase for the eighth time by finishing a creditable fifth against a world-class field in 8 minutes 12.48 seconds. He improved his record of 8:16.21 by three seconds.

“Till 2024, I am not thinking of any discipline other than steeplechase. Later I may consider participating in the marathon,” said Avinash Sable, in a virtual chat with journalists organised by his sponsors JSW.

“I will continue taking part in steeplechase till I feel that I am improving and doing well at the international level. Coming first and winning medals at the national level is not my aim, improving my standard and proving that I can compete with the best is my aim. Medals will happen if I continue to improve,” said Sable speaking from Colorado Springs in the U.S.

The 27-year-old Sable is currently training at Colorado Springs in the USA under coach Nick Simmons, working with some of the top runners from the USA, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco.

This is his first trip abroad for training and Sable believes that the stint is helping him improve his timings. He had some issues in adjusting to the weather and facilities there but now has gotten used to them and is enjoying his stint. Having proved his mettle by performing well in his first Diamond League meet last week, Sable is now concentrating on doing well in the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA from July 15 to 24, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which will be held from July 28 to August 8.

“When I won my first medal in 3000m steeplechase at the national level in 2017, I clocked 8:39. In Rabat last week, I clocked 8:12, so I have come quite long in the last few years. There are still a few weeks for those events and I want to continue with what I am doing. If I continue to work hard and improve my standard, medals will come,” said Sable.