Steeplechaser Sable conquers fear of hurdles

• Reuters, BENGALURU, India

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India’s Asian Games steeplechase champion Avinash Sable had no idea if he would compete again after a nasty fall resulted in 14 months on the sidelines and crippling self-doubt.

The 32-year-old won 3,000m steeplechase gold and silver in the 5,000m in Hangzhou, China, three years ago, but sustained a serious knee injury at the Monaco Diamond League meet last year and contemplated retirement when psychological issues complicated his recovery.

“Hurdles scared me,” he told reporters at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Bengaluru center earlier this month.

India’s Avinash Sable races in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase final at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Oct. 1, 2023.

Photo: Reuters

“I was worried hurdles could get me seriously injured again,” he said. “It felt like I would never be able to return... I had no confidence at all, didn’t know how I would be able to recover.”

Sable is no stranger to hardship, having grown up in a quiet farming community where he ran 6km barefoot to school.

As a teenager he worked in brick kilns and on construction sites with his parents as his family struggled to make ends meet before finding a way out of the grinding poverty by joining the army.

His tough upbringing was no preparation for a long period of inactivity and the slow fight back to fitness after surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

“It’s a really dark time for an athlete when workouts that used to be easy make you feel like you don’t know what happened to you,” he said. “I just couldn’t run, my fitness was gone ... at one point I thought my career was over.”

He started running again in November last year, but a shin complaint forced him to stop training again in May.

“My weight had gone up by four to five kilos during the break,” he said. “I couldn’t eat less because it would affect recovery... I think the second injury happened because I tried to push through with extra body weight.”

Sable found reserves of determination and, with the support of fellow athletes and the staff at the SAI’s Bengaluru center, conquered his fears and got back on track again.

“I had missed Commonwealth Games and I didn’t want to miss Asian Games too,” Sable said. “My coaches made me believe that I would get my fitness back ... when I had pain, they motivated me to get through it.”

Sable ran a 5,000m race last month before clocking 8 minutes, 32.39 seconds in a steeplechase in New Delhi on Thursday last week, finishing 18 seconds ahead of the second-placed competitor.

That was still a long way shy of the Asian Games record of 8:19.50 he ran to win gold in Hangzhou, and the Indian national record of 8:09.91 he registered at the Paris Diamond League meet in 2024.

Sable finished 11th in the Olympic steeplechase final in the French capital later that year, won gold at the Asian Championships in May last year, and was aiming for a personal best in Monaco when a rival’s stumble sent him clattering to the deck at the water jump.

Now back in competitive shape after 14 months on the sidelines, Sable aims to defend his Asian Games steeplechase title and hopes to be selected to race in the 5,000m at Aichi-Nagoya.

“The aim is to do better than the last Asian Games,” Sable said. “I want to show everyone who helped me that I can still do well.”