Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 13: When she was 16 and competing in a national event, Lalita Babar made a mistake.

Told she wasn’t allowed to run barefoot, the Maharashtra village girl went to a store and bought a regular pair of shoes because she hadn’t heard of sports shoes, an article in online journal People’s Archive of Rural India says.

She made no mistakes in Rio today, reaching the 3,000m steeplechase final to join gymnast Dipa Karmakar as the best news for India at the ongoing Games.

“What I’ve achieved today is because of Nikolai Sir,” the 27-year-old said, thanking her Belarusian coach Nikolai Snesarev, considered a maverick by Indian officials because of his fabled habit of going around with a resignation letter in his pocket.

“Before today’s race, he told me: ‘Others have not done well but you must give your best’.”

Lalita, who comes from a farming family of 17, said she used to practise as a child by running barefoot to school, 4km away, from her home in the drought-prone part of Satara district.

Today she finished fourth in Heat II after leading halfway through and seventh overall in a field of 52. She clocked 9:19.76 to shave more than six seconds off Sudha Singh’s national record, set in Shanghai in May.

“I never expected to produce such a good time. Now that I’ve reached Monday’s final, I’ll try to do as much as possible,” Lalita, who won bronze at the 2014 Asiad clocking 9:35.37, said.

Sudha finished ninth in Heat III at 9:43.29. The top three from each of the three heats made the final along with six other best finishers.

“My students are all dedicated…. There is no surprise that Lalita reached the final. Given more support, she will do better,” Snesarev said.

At a time Indian authorities were spending huge sums to send Rio hopefuls abroad for training, Snesarev had refused to leave India with his wards. He had camped in Ooty and Bangalore for the past one year, training Lalita and Sudha without allowing anyone to interfere.

One of Lalita’s fellow contestants had shoe trouble today, though, Reuters reported.

Ethiopia’s Etenesh Diro got tangled up with two other runners in the 3,000m steeplechase heats and stopped to tear off her damaged right shoe and sock, then kept on running to finish seventh.

She broke down in tears after finishing more than 20 seconds off her personal best but officials granted her a spot in the final.

Australia’s Genevieve Lacaze, who finished second, complained the mishap had obstructed the track.

“She was like a road block,” Lacaze said. “Someone ripped out her heel and, instead of getting out of the way — I guess you don’t think about others too much when you’re in the Olympics — she just stopped and was a roadblock for about four girls.”