Avinash Sable qualified for the Paris Olympics as he timed a season’s best 8:11.63 to finish sixth in the
3000m steeplechase at the Silesia Diamond League athletics meet in Chorzow (Poland).

The army man though failed to match his own personal best and national record of 8:11.20, he bettered the qualifying mark for the Olympics 3000m steeplechase which is 8:15.00. The athletics qualifying window for the Paris 2024 Olympics opened on July 1.

The Paris Games will be the second Olympic appearance for Avinash Sable, who competed at Tokyo 2020. There he only ran in the heats, setting a then national record, and did not qualify for the final.

The 8:11.63 at Silesia was also Avinash Sable’s best timing in Diamond League competitions. This finish at Silesia also earned the Indian three qualification ranking points for the Diamond League Final 2023. He is now ninth in the standings with seven points from three outings.

Earlier this season, Avinash Sable finished 10th at the Rabat leg and fifth at the Stockholm leg. The Silesia meet was his third 3000m steeplechase race of the year.

Reigning Olympic, world and Diamond League champion, Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, won the race with a meet record timing of 8:03.16. Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot, who pipped Sable to the Commonwealth Games 2022 gold last year, finished second with 8:08.03.

Leonard Bett, another Kenyan, finished third, clocking 8:09.45. Ethiopia’s Abrham Sime (8:10.68) and Benjamin Kigen of Kenya (8:11.12) wrapped up the top five. Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale, who finished second behind Bakkali both at Rabat and Stockholm, failed to finish the race.

Athletes are awarded points instead of medals for competing in each leg of the Diamond League series. The top eight athletes in each event at the end of all the legs will qualify for the Diamond League Final, where they will compete for the trophy.

The competition in Silesia was the eighth event of the Diamond League season. The series will wrap up with the two-day final in Eugene, the USA on September 16 and 17.

After Silesia, only the Monaco and Shenzhen legs of the Diamond League season will feature the 3000m steeplechase race.