Avinash Sable just manages to defend his title in photo finish with Kartik Kumar

NEW DELHI: Just 0.04 seconds separated Birmingham CWG silver medallist steeplechaser Avinash Sable and Kartik Kumar, as the duo clocked an identical 64 minutes in an incredible photo finish in the elite Indian men’s category at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon (VDHM) on Sunday.
Ultimately, it was defending champion and top-billed Sable, who was declared the winner by the technical officials of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) after investigating the race footage.
“It was overall a challenging race. We got off to a good start and stayed with the elite group for the first 7-8 kilometres. Their pace wasn’t that fast and my plan was to stay together with Kartik, who maintained his pace with me through the race,” said Sable, who had become the first Indian to complete the half marathon in under 61 minutes at the VDHM’s 2020 edition, finishing 10th overall with a timing of 60:30. This year, Sable was placed 14th overall and Kartik 15th.
“Since my practice also wasn’t specific to the half marathon this year, my focus was more on placing than timing. In 2020, I trained well for the half marathon and back then I wanted to go for the record,” he added. Elated to have bagged the second place, Kartik was modest in admitting, “I had no plan, I just had to run and keep up with Sable.” The victory earned Sable a winner’s cheque of Rs 3.5 lakh.
Srinu Bugatha, a regular marathoner, finished third at 65:25. He came second in the last edition of the event in 2020. He was in for a challenge with Man Singh (65:43) after Sable and Kartik broke away early. “I had to maintain my own pace as Sable and Kartik broke away at the start. Overall, it was a good race,” he said.
There were, however, no surprises in the elite Indian women’s category where Sanjivani Jadhav bagged the gold after two previous podium finishes. Jadhav was well ahead of the Indian pack right from the start and was hardly challenged by Monika Athare and Priti Lamba, who finished second and third respectively.
Jadhav clocked 77:53 while Athare timed 78:39 and Lamba finished at 79:06. “Soon after the first 2-3 kms, I went ahead and had to pace my own race. If I had a pacer, I could have gone faster but I am still happy to finish first,” Jadhav said.
Indian Men:
1 Avinash Sable 64:00
2 Kartik Kumar 64:00
3 Srinu Bugatha 65:25
Indian Women:
1 Sanjivani Jadhav 77:53
2 Monika Athare 78:39
3 Priti Lamba 79:06