On a successful day for Indian athletics, Avinash Sable became the first athlete from India to win a medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games while Priyanka Goswami also made history by finishing second in the women’s 10000m race walk on Saturday.
The last time Kenya did not clean-sweep men’s 3000m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games was 1994
National Record holder Sable clocked 8:11.20 en route to his silver medal to better his earlier national record of 8:12.48 and finish behind Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot (8:11.15). The men’s steeplechase is an event that has been dominated by Kenya, with clean sweeps as far back as 1998.
After the event, Sable said as per PTI, “My last lap was disappointing, but I am really happy because it is a long (time) since India won a long distance medal.”
Here’s a look at his performance:
Goswami also recorded her Personal Best with 43:38.83 to finish behind Jemima Montag (42:34.30) of Australia.
“This is the first Commonwealth Games medal in walking for an Indian woman so I’m really pleased to have created a piece of history,” Goswami said after the event.
Here’s a look at the winning moment:
With their medals, India’s medal tally in athletics better their performance from the previous edition of the Commonwealth Games. They have now moved to four after high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar won a bronze and silver respectively, earlier. In Gold Coast in 2018, India won three medals – a gold, silver and bronze each.
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