Avinash Sable becomes first Indian man to qualify for the 3000m steeplechase final

Paris: Avinash Sable became the first Indian man to qualify for the 3000m steeplechase final after finishing fifth in his heat but quartermiler Kiran Pahal failed to book an automatic semi-final berth in women's 400m following a seventh place finish in her heat at the Paris Olympics on Monday.

Sable, easily the most decorated track and field athlete after Neeraj Chopra in the current contingent, timed 8:15.43 minutes to finish fifth in the second heat to make it to the final round.

As per rule, the top five athletes in each of the three heats qualify for the final.

However, Sable's heat timing was well below his best effort of 8:09.91 minutes, which he had clocked at the Paris Diamond League last month.

Sable's heat was won by Morocco's Mohamed Tindouft with a timing of 8:10.62 minutes, while Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia with 8:11.61 minutes came second. Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya (8:12.02 minutes) was third, while Ryuji Miura of Japan came fourth. He clocked 8:12.41 minutes.

In fact, if one takes into account the timings of all the 15 finalists, Sable is fifth as the second heat qualifiers had the best timing.

The Indian led in the first two laps but after that slowed down a bit running a more technical race with an eye to qualify for the final round.

Even when he slowed down, he never was out of the leading pack which eventually remained the same.

Earlier, Kiran, who turned 24 on Monday, clocked 52.51 seconds which was well below her season's and personal best of 50.92 seconds.

World champion Marileidy Paulino of Dominica won the heat with a time of 49.42, followed by Aaliyah Butler (50.52) of USA and Susanne Gogl-Walli (50.67) of Austria.

Top three in each of the six heats advanced to semifinal. All the others -- except for DNS (Did Not Start), DNF (Did Not Finish) and DQ (Disqualified)-- moved to the repechage round to be held on Tuesday.

Pahal had made direct qualification to Paris Olympics after clocking her personal best of 50.92 seconds in the National Inter-State Championships in June, A repechage round was introduced in Paris Olympics to all individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including the hurdles events. The new format replaced the earlier one where some athletes advanced to the semifinals through fastest times in addition to the top placings in the first round heats.

Instead, only the athletes in the top placings will get automatic qualification and all the remaining will get a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals by participating in repechage heats.