How the Indian army trained and transformed the once “fat”, lazy and vada pao-loving Avinash Sable, into Commonwealth Games steeplechase silver medalist

He took up the sport in 2015 and worked extremely hard breaking national records, and a lot of personal setbacks to become Commonwealth Games 2022 steeplechase silver medalist. Read the awe-inspiring story of Avinash Sable, an Indian army soldier who was once a lazy teenager and now a record-chasing long-distance runner.
Avinash

Avinash Sable missed the gold medal by 0.05 seconds he was behind Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot, clinching a silver at the Commonwealth Games 2022

New Delhi: This new Indian star in the making is on the right ‘track’.
Avinash Sable, the 27-year-old army soldier from the Beed district of Maharashtra is the man of the moment, for having come a long way from a life of extreme hardships, laziness, and weight issues to becoming a Steeplechase record holder in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, 2022.

How the army gave him wings

Interestingly, Sable discovered running six years ago while serving in the Army. Coming from a modest family of farmers from one of the most backward and drought-prone districts, Sable has been described as a lazy, fat, and vada happy-go-lucky teenager who did not care about any sporting events, ever. He even joined the army to just provide for his family.
It is only during his regimental tenure in 5 Mahar, where he was recruited after completing 12th standard did Sable come out as a star. Having served in two extreme-temperature areas – Siachen and Rajasthan, Sable’s resilience came out stronger. He joined the army’s athletic programme and ran cross-country competitions.
Having the distinction of training only for a year before he became a part of the Services team, Sable remarkably finished fifth in the individual National Cross-Country Championship. However, after suffering an injury, he took some time off and gained a lot of weight but came back only stronger.
In 2017, Sable lost 15 kilos, began running again, and caught the eye of army coach Amrish Kumar who put him into the steeplechase category. “He had strength and endurance as he is from a rural area. He was very good at cross-country and when I saw his jumps in training, we decided to move him to steeplechase,” Amrish Kumar told the media.
Rest, as they say is all history.

The rise and rise of Sable

After finishing at a good pace in Federation Cup that year, Sable eyed the national record but was discouraged. “The steeplechase is a very tactical race. So, most times, I was told it was not possible to break this record in India because no one can set that kind of pace in India. So, I had to set the pace for myself too,” Sable had said in one of the interviews.
While he could break that record after breaking an ankle and failing at the Asian Games qualifiers that year, Sable did break the national record in 2018 at Bhubaneshwar.

Clinching qualifiers for Tokyo

But life has never been a bed of roses for Havaldar Sable, who was put under a strict Russian method coach Nikolai Snessarev, giving him so much mental stress that he even considered quitting, not before reuniting with Amrish Kumar and strength training to clinch a chance to run at the IAAF World Championships at Doha, making him only the second Indian to run internationally.
He then qualified for Tokyo Olympics 2020, being the first Indian to run in a steeplechase event in the Olympics since Gulzara Singh Mann in 1952. But he could make it to the finals on his debut.

Birmingham glory 2022

But the chase for medals did not end for Sable, who recently cloaked the national record of 8:11:20 at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 winning the silver medal at the men’s 3000m steeplechase event.
Fascinatingly, Sable missed the gold medal by 0.05 seconds he was behind Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot. Sable has also been the world’s first athlete since Canadian Graeme Vincent Fell to wipe off a Kenyan clean sweep at the Commonwealth Games.
Sable also brought home the glory of India’s first-ever steeplechase medal. And Sable’s time has just begun!
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