Kenneth rooks

Soufiane El Bakkali: India's top distance runner Avinash Sable could not keep up the pace and finished 11th in the men's 3000m steeplechase which was won by Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco in a season's best time of 8 minutes 06.05 seconds at the Paris Olympics here on Wednesday.

Kenneth Rooks of the United States surprised everyone by finishing second, in a race usually dominated by African runners, with a personal best timing of 8:06.41 while Abraham Kibinoi of Kenya took the bronze medal in 8:06.47 as the American pipped him to the post.

Sable clocked 8:14.18, which is quite slow compared to the 8:11,20 which he clocked while winning the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. The 39-year-old army man had clocked 8:15.43 in the heats, which sealed him a place in the final, making him the first Indian athlete to reach the final of the 3000m steeplechase in the Olympics.