World Athletics Championships: Avinash Sable qualifies for 3000m Steeplechase final; finishes 3rd in Heat 3

This will be Sable's second-successive appearance at the medal race in the World Athletics Championships.

Avinash Sable qualified for the medal race in the 3000m Steeplechase event at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday. The athlete clocked 8:18:75 to earn a direct qualification to the final event, as he finished third in Heat 3. This will be Sable's second-successive appearance in the event's medal race at the global competition. While Ethiopia's Hailemariyam Amare finished first (8:18:34), Evan Jager of the United States of America finished second (8:18:44) in a tight race in Heat 3.

Avinash Sable (Twitter/OlympicKhel)

Sable had made a bright start to the race and led the line after the first 1000m; however, he fell behind soon after, and at one point, was sixth with only another 400m to go. However, the Indian had a resurgence and finished third to book an automatic qualification for the final.

Sable had also qualified for the 2019 World Championships final in Doha, where he had finished 13th.

As expected, reigning Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali finished at top in Heat 1 (8:16:65), while Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma was first in Heat 2 (8:19:64).

Among other Indian athletes on Day 1 of the Championships, Priyanka Goswami finished 34th in the women's 20km racewalk, while Sandeep Kumar endured a disappointing outing as he ended at 40th position in the men's event.