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Lalita Babar feels she could have bettered her timing after the long distance Indian runner capped her fairy-tale journey in the Rio Olympics with a top-10 finish in the 3000m steeplechase final on Monday.
Lalita failed to repeat her creditable display in the qualification as she clocked 9:22.74 in the finals, nearly three second outside her national record effort of 9:19.76 in the qualification on Saturday.
Despite her 10th finish, Lalita’s effort was still the best performance by an Indian in a track event after after PT Usha’s fourth-place finish in the 400m hurdles in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
At one stage she advanced to the fifth position midway into the race but in 25 metres she fell away gradually and was in 11th position before overtaking Courtney Frerichs of the United States to finish 10th.
Kenyan-born Ruth Jebeth of Bahrain won the gold in 8:59.75 which is less than a second outside the world record timing of 8:58.81. She was the pre-event favourite.
The 2015 World Championships gold winner Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkomoi of Kenya took the silver in 9:07.12 while American Emma Coburn won the bronze in 9:07.63.
Lalita, who had clocked 9:19.76 to better her national mark for the fourth time since the Asian Games, revealed that the ‘Payyoli Express’ had wished her luck.
Now all the hopes would be on Usha’s protege Tintu Luka, who will run in the women’s 800m on August 17.
Lalita had knee pain after she hit a hurdle on her way to set the national record in the heats on Saturday but she said it did not affect her much.
She said the warm conditions took her by surprise.
(With inputs from PTI)
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