In the ongoing Paris Olympics, India’s athletics team faced setbacks as record holders Parul Chaudhary and Jeswin Aldrin did not advance in their respective events. Parul, competing in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, finished eighth in her heat and 21st overall, concluding her Olympic journey. Despite her high-altitude training in the USA, she clocked her season’s best at 9 minutes 23.39 seconds, falling short of her national record of 9:15.31 set at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.
The top five athletes from each heat race moved forward to the final, with defending Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda winning the first heat in 9:10.51. Faith Cherotich of Kenya and Gesa Felicitas Krause from Germany followed closely. Parul also did not qualify for the women’s 5000m race, where she competed alongside Ankita Dhyani. She had secured direct qualification for the 3000m steeplechase by surpassing the entry standard of 9:23.00.
Lalita Babar remains the only Indian woman to have reached the final in the 3000m steeplechase at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she finished 10th.
In the men’s long jump qualification, Jeswin Aldrin struggled with two fouled attempts before achieving a jump of 7.61m in his third attempt. This placed him 13th in Group B and 26th overall. Athletes needed to meet the automatic qualification mark of 8.15m or be among the top 12 performers to advance to the final. Aldrin, with a season best of 7.99m and a personal best of 8.42m, managed to qualify for the Paris Games through world rankings but could not reach the 8m mark this year.