20 August,2023 07:52 AM IST | Budapest | Sundeep Misra
India’s Avinash Sable during the 3,000m steeplechase heats in Budapest on Saturday. Pic/AFP
With humidity hovering around 80 per cent, the sun slowly coming out from behind the clouds, it was a Budapest morning that Avinash Sable was looking forward to but in the end, Heat 1 for the Indian steeplechaser became a run through hell on Saturday.
Initially, Sable held his own, hovering between fifth and seventh spot as the others including Getnet Wale from Ethiopia set the pace. At the 1,300m mark, Sable was languishing at ninth. At the 2,300m mark, Sable shot into the lead. One did believe he would hold his own now with the top three, getting into the top five spots that qualify for the final.
He fell back to sixth, moved up to fifth, settled into the fourth spot and just when Wale, Canada's Desgagnes, Kenya's Simon Koech sped up ahead, confusion reigned at the back and Sable, trying to get ahead, veered a bit to his right. Suddenly, the group had shot ahead. Before Sable could even gather his wits, Japan's Ryoma Aoki and Morocco's Mohamed Tindouft had picked up the fifth and sixth spot. Sable was seventh.
They say running a final is easier than the qualifying. Getnet Wale ran Heat 1 in 8:19.99. USA's Kenneth Rooks and Olympic Champion Bakkali ran Heat 2 in identical 8:23.66. Ethiopia's Lamecha Garima won Heat 3 in 8:15.89. Nobody cares about timings in the qualifying - the quest is to get into the final.
One thing is, however, common and that is consistency. After 1,500m Bakkali was always in the top three lead runners. After 1,400m, Girma held onto the top spot. That's where Sable went wrong. Caught in two minds, he wavered.
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"I could not take the distance in the last km. I was thinking on saving my energy for the finals and that's what I did wrong and getting into the best of five I don't think was that tough."
Everybody believed Sable would crack the code. He looked broken and emotional to the point where he questioned himself as a runner.
"We get to learn something in every race, but when the results do not come, we feel very bad and feel we should leave this field and do something else. I was training in the US since the last three-four months. Neither my speed nor endurance was lacking, This year I also participated in three Diamond Leagues and that's why I didn't think at all that I wouldn't even make it to the finals."
With the Asian Games around the corner, Sable would need to pick up the pieces and fast. Budapest, would always be a regret.
