World Athletics Championships 2023: Parul Chaudhary Qualifies For Women's 3000 metres Steeplechase final

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Budapest, August 24: India's Parul Chaudhary produced her person best to qualify for the women's 3000 metres steeplechase final in the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday (August 24) night.

The 28-year-old, who ran in the second of three heats, finished fifth with a personal best timing of 9:24.29s, breaking her previous best of 9:29.51s which she had achieved during a podium finish at the Los Angeles Grand Prix earlier this year in May.

Parul will now join four others from her heats and ten others from the other two heats in the final, which will take place on the ultimate day of the global meet in Budapest on Sunday (August 27). She will hope to further better her timing as she was the slowest among the qualifiers.

Parul had finished 31st in the 3000m steeplechase in last year's World Athletics Championships in Oregon with a timing of 9:38.90s. However, she has warmed up to the meet in Budapest with a Gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok in July, when she clocked 9:38.76.

With the latest result, Parul became the first Indian since Lalita Babar to qualify for the World Championships final since 2015 World Athletics Championships, where Babar finished eighth in the final.

Parul Chaudhary also became only the second Indian after Jeswin Aldrin to reach the final at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Aldrin qualified for the men's long jump final with a best effort of 8m. Murali Sreesankar failed to qualify as he managed only 7.74m jump.

Earlier, men's 3000 meters steeplechaser Avinash Sable, 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, 400m hurdler Santosh Kumar Tamilarasan and 800m runner Krishan Kumar all failed to get past the heats in the track, while several others including the triple jumpers, failed to qualify in the field events.

In the coming days, India's golden hope Neeraj Chopra will be in javelin throw action along side two other compatriots, while Aldrin will be in long jump final action on Thursday (August 24).