Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Avinash Sable set a men's 3000m Steeplechase National Record to headline a string of good performances in the Indian Grand Prix 2 Athletics competition here at the Chandrasekharan Nair Police Stadium on Wednesday. Quartermiler Priya H Mohan and Discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur shared top honours in the women's events.
Competing for the first time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, a languid Avinash Sable (Maharashtra) stayed on the heels of Balkishan (Haryana) who set a good pace from the start. The Olympian shifted gears with three laps to go and came home in 8:16.21, shaving off 1.91 seconds from his own record set in Tokyo. Trailing Kerala team-mate Abdulla Aboobacker until the midway stage of the men's Triple Jump competition Eldhose Paul came up with a personal best effort of 16.95m to claim gold. In fact, each of his last three efforts - 16.74, 16.95 and 16.76 - was good enough to get him the title ahead of Abdulla Aboobacker's best of 16.70.
