Avinash Sable established a new national record in the men’s 3000m Steeplechase on Wednesday at the Chandrasekharan Nair Police Stadium as part of the Indian Grand Prix 2 Athletics tournament.
In the women’s competitions, Quarter miler Priya H Mohan and discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur shared first place. A sluggish Avinash Sable (Maharashtra), competing for the first time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, hung on the tails of Haryana’s Balkishan, who established a solid pace from the start.
With three circuits to go, the Olympian changed gears and finished in 8:16.21, knocking 1.91 seconds off his personal best achieved in Tokyo.
Eldhose Paul, who had been behind Kerala teammate Abdulla Aboobacker until the midway point of the men’s Triple Jump competition, won gold with a personal best attempt of 16.95m. In fact, his previous three performances – 16.74, 16.95, and 16.76 – were all good enough to beat Abdulla Aboobacker’s record of 16.70.
Kamalpreet Kaur had two throws that went over 60 meters, with her sixth and final attempt being the highest performance. After reaching 60.15m on her third try, the winning distance of 61.39m will boost her confidence as she prepares for a hectic year that includes World Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Asian Games.
Priya H Mohan’s ascension to the top of the women’s 400m sprint looks unstoppable. She came in second place again, defeating the seasoned MR Poovamma. On a day when Karnataka’s NS Inchara dropped home within 54 seconds for the first time, beating VK Vismaya, Jisna Mathew strained every muscle to capture the bronze medal.
Priya Mohan ran a personal best time of 52.37 seconds, 0.21 seconds faster than her previous best from last month’s Inter-University Championships in Bhubaneshwar. Poovamma took advantage of the younger runner’s speed and ran her quickest time since June 24, 2016, when she won a race in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 52.31 seconds.
The men’s quarter-mile offered some fireworks as well, with Rajesh Ramesh (Tamil Nadu), 21, startling Kerala’s Noah Nirmal Tom on the home stretch with a burst of pace. Rajesh Ramesh set a new personal best time of 46.09 seconds, bettering his previous best of 46.35 seconds set when he came third in the Indian Grand Prix 1 on March 13.
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