Paris (France): India's unimpressive show in the Paris Games athletics continued with national record holders Parul Chaudhary and Jeswin Aldrin failing to qualify for the women's 3000m steeplechase and men's long jump respectively, here on Sunday. Parul finished eighth in her heat race and 21st overall to end her campaign in the Paris Olympics.
The 29-year-old, who underwent high-altitude training in the USA for a few months in the lead-up to the Games, ran the distance at 9 minutes 23.39 seconds. It was her season's best but well below her national mark of 9:15.31 clocked in the 2023 Budapest World Championships. The top-five each from the three heat races qualify for the final.
Defending Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda won the heat number one with 9:10.51 while Faith Cherotich (9:10.57) of Kenya and Gesa Felicitas Krause (9:10.68) from Germany were second and third respectively. This brought to an end to Parul's campaign, who had also failed to qualify for the women's 5000m race along with Ankita Dhyani. Parul had made direct qualification for the 3000m steeplechase her pet event after breaching the entry standard of 9:23.00.