Avinash Sable made history by becoming the first Indian man to qualify for the 3000m steeplechase final, securing fifth place in his heat with a time of 8:15.43 minutes.
Sable, one of the most accomplished track and field athletes in the current contingent, second only to Neeraj Chopra, demonstrated his prowess despite his timing being below his personal best of 8:09.91 minutes set at the Paris Diamond League last month.
According to the rules, the top five athletes from each of the three heats advance to the final.
Morocco’s Mohamed Tindouft won Sable’s heat with a time of 8:10.62 minutes, followed by Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia at 8:11.61 minutes, Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya at 8:12.02 minutes, and Ryuji Miura of Japan at 8:12.41 minutes.
Overall, Sable’s time placed him fifth among the 15 finalists, indicating the high competitiveness of the second heat.
Sable led the first two laps before adjusting his pace to focus on qualifying for the final round. Despite this strategic slowdown, he remained within the leading pack throughout the race.
In a separate event, Kiran, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Monday, recorded a time of 52.51 seconds in her heat, which was below her season and personal best of 50.92 seconds.
World champion Marileidy Paulino of Dominica won the heat with a time of 49.42 seconds, followed by Aaliyah Butler of the USA (50.52 seconds) and Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria (50.67 seconds).
The top three athletes from each of the six heats advanced to the semifinals, while the remaining competitors, except for those who did not start (DNS), did not finish (DNF), or were disqualified (DQ), moved to the repechage round scheduled for Tuesday.
Kiran had secured direct qualification for the Paris Olympics by clocking her personal best of 50.92 seconds at the National Inter-State Championships in June.
The Paris Olympics introduced a new repechage round format for all individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including hurdles events.
This new format replaces the previous system, where some athletes advanced to the semifinals based on the fastest times in addition to top placements in the first-round heats.
Now, only athletes with top placements receive automatic qualification, while the others get a second chance to qualify for the semifinals through repechage heats.