Quietly working his way up, Avinash Sable represents the steady rise of Indian athletics
Commonwealth Games (CWG) was almost unheard of before this -- denying the Kenyans a clean sweep of the men's 3000m Steeplechase medals. Sable won the silver medal, finishing 0.05 seconds behind the gold-medal winner, Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya. The Indian separated the gold and bronze medallists, who were both Kenyans. For the first time since 1994, when Canada's Graeme Vincent Fell won the bronze, there was a non-Kenyan on the podium in the men's 3000m Steeplechase event at the CWG. Here's the story of that incredible history-making run by Avinash Sable on August 6, 2022; what happened three weeks before that in Oregon; the impact his former coach, the late Nikolai Snesarev, had on Sable's career; and how a changed perception towards training overseas has turned Sable into a world class runner. 'HE NEARLY GOT THEM ALL'Athletics Federation of India (AFI) chief Adille Sumariwalla's words for Sable put his achievement in perspective. "At the CWG, it had always been three Kenyans (on the men's 3000m Steeplechase podium). Yesterday, Sable nearly got all of them." But, the fact that he ended the Kenyan stranglehold in the men's 3000m Steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games is not the complete story. The way he did it to become the first non-Kenyan to win a medal of any colour in the event in 28 years is where the main script lies.
