Sharuk Khan created a new national U20 record in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event, as he clocked 8:42.06s to finish 10th in the final of the World U20 Athletics Championships in Lima, Peru, on Saturday.
Sharuk, who set a new NR in the heats by clocking 8:45.12s on August 29, took off three minutes and six seconds from his previous national record in the final to set the new NR.
The field was highly competitive with Edmund Serem of Kenya winning the gold medal by clocking a world record-breaking timing of 8:15.28s.
Serem broke fellow Kenyan athlete Celliphine Chepteek Chespol’s seven-year-old world record (8:58.78s), achieved at Hayward Field, Eugene, USA in 2017.
Matthew Kosgei made it a gold and silver double for Kenya by finishing second, achieving a personal best timing of 8:17.46s.
Ethiopia’s Hailu Ayalew also set a new personal best timing of 8:24.08s to win the bronze medal.
A total of ten athletes registered their personal best timings in the men’s 3000 steeplechase event.
In the men’s 4x400m relay final, the Indian quartet of Rihan Choudhary, Ankul, Abiram Pramod and Jay Kumar made a credible sixth-place finish as they clocked 3:08.76s.
USA, South Africa and Australia won the gold, silver and bronze by clocking their season-best timings.
Pooja finishes 9th in high jump
Meanwhile, Pooja Singh, who rewrote the national U20 women’s national record in the high jump in the qualification round, finished ninth with a 1.80m jump.
The 17-year-old high jumper fell 0.03m short of her personal and season-best mark of 1.83m she cleared on August 29 to finish second in qualification round Group B and ninth overall to qualify for the final.
Serbia’s Angelina Topic, who has a personal and season best of 1.98m, clinched the gold medal with her best leap of 1.91m.
Australia’s Izobelle Lousion-Roe and Estonia’s Karmen Bruus won the silver and bronze medals with 1.89m leaps respectively.
India finished 34th on the medal table at the end of the fifth and final day’s action, with Arati winning India’s lone medal in the women’s 10000m race walk event.
In the previous edition in 2022 in Cali, Colombia, India did better and finished 25th on the back of winning three medals.
The USA topped the medal table with 16 medals, while Ethiopia and China finished second and third, respectively.