Avinash Sable smashed India's 30-year-old men's 5000m national record at the Sound Running Track Meet at San Juan Capistrano, California in USA on Friday.
Sable also holds the national record in his primary event of 3000m steeplechase, which he competed in at the Tokyo Olympics. In California, he clocked 13 minutes and 25.65 seconds while finishing 12th in the American Meet.
The 27-year-old Army man from Beed, Maharashtra broke Bahadur Prasad's long-standing record of 13:29.70s set in Birmingham in 1992.
Olympian & #TOPScheme ��♂️ #AvinashSable breaks 30-yr old long standing record of Bahadur Prasad (13:29.70/1992) in 5000m, setting a new #nationalrecord with a brilliant performance of 13:25.65 in Sound Running Track meet in San Juan Capistrano ���� #Athletics
1/2 pic.twitter.com/vNxWGhi7mT- SAI Media (@Media_SAI) May 7, 2022
Norway's Tokyo Olympics 1500m gold winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the race with a timing of 13:02.03s. The Sound Running Track Meet is a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level event.
"We were planning Avinash to field in both 3000m steeplechase and 5000m in Asian Games as he has medal chance in both events," Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.
However, the Hangzhou Asian Games, originally scheduled to be held from September 10 to 15, were on Friday postponed indefinitely due to surging COVID-19 cases in China.
Sable has set and broken his own 3000m steeplechase national record multiple times. He did it for the seventh time during the Indian Grand Prix 2 in Thiruvananthapuram in March with a time of 8:16.21s. He had also set a then national record of 8:18.12s during the Tokyo Olympics. He has already qualified for the World Championships to be held in Eugene, USA from July 15 to 24.
