World Athletics C’ships: Parul Chaudhary qualifies for final

Indian steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary clocked her personal best to qualify for the finals of women’s 3000m Steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old clocked 9:24.29 in the second heat to finish fifth and book her berth in the final.

Parul ran her personal best shelving off more than five seconds and beat the time she clocked during the Los Angeles Grand Prix held at the Drake Stadium when she completed the course in 9:29.51.

Parul Chaudhary clocked 9:38.76 in the Asian Athletics Championships in Thailand to clinch the Asian title in July.

Coming on the back of the gold medal at the Inter-State Nationals and Asian Athletics Championships, Parul started slowly in the second heat of the World Championships. She kept her pace constant and remained behind the leading pack to finish fifth and book her berth into the finals.

Parul became the second athlete to move beyond the qualification round after long jumper Jeswin Aldrin who jumped 8.00m earlier in the day to book his berth in the long jump final.

While Jeswin scrambled in the final with a 12th-place finish in qualification, Murali Sreeshankar failed to put on a decent show and registered a best jump of 7.74m to finish 22nd in the qualification.

Ram Baboo will be in action in the men's 35km race walk while Jeswin Aldrin will take the field in the final of the men's long jump.