Sharuk Khan enters steeplechase final with national record at World U-20 meet

Lima: India's Sharuk Khan broke the national U-20 record in 3000m steeplechase to qualify for the final with a sixth-place finish in his heat at the World Athletics U-20 Championships here.

The 18-year-old ran 8 minutes, 45.12 seconds to finish sixth in heat one late Wednesday night and qualify for the final to be held on Friday.

The top-eight finishers in each of the two heat races qualified for the final.

The earlier national U-20 record in this event was in the name of 19-year-old Rajesh of Rajasthan who had clocked 8:50.12sec while finishing fourth at the Federation Cup National Senior Championships in May in Bhubaneswar.

Khan's earlier personal best was 8:51.75sec, which he had clocked while winning a silver at the Asian U-20 Championships in Korea in June last year.

Another Indian, Jay Kumar qualified for the men's 400m final after finishing third in his semifinal heat with a personal best time of 46.96 seconds.