At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Parul Chaudhary's journey in the women's 3000m steeplechase concluded with an eighth-place finish in her heat race at the Stade de France on Sunday. Despite achieving her season's best timing of 9:23.39, she did not advance to the final round, where only the top five from each of the three heats qualified.
Chaudhary, the national record holder in the event, had been preparing extensively for the Games, including high-altitude training in the USA. Her performance in Paris, while a personal best for the season, fell short of her national record of 9:15.31, which she set at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.
The heat was won by Uganda's Peruth Chemutai, the defending Olympic champion, with a time of 9:10.51. Kenya's Faith Cherotich and Germany's Gesa Felicitas Krause followed, finishing second and third with times of 9:10.57 and 9:10.68, respectively.
This result marked the end of Chaudhary's campaign at the Olympics, as she had also failed to advance in the women's 5000m race, where she competed alongside Ankita Dhyani. Notably, Parul had met the entry standard of 9:23.00 for the 3000m steeplechase, highlighting her qualification effort. The last Indian woman to reach the final in this event was Lalita Babar, who finished 10th at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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