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Cuban track and field athletes win
medals in Shanghai and Ponce
Triple jumper Lázaro Martínez won a silver medal, on
May 18, at the second Diamond League competition of
the year, held in the Chinese city of Shanghai.
Cuban Olympic pole vaulter Yarielsy Silva won a
silver medal at the
Grand Prix in Puerto Rico, despite competing without
her usual equipment.
Martínez, 2013 World Champion in the cadet category,
jumped for 16.76 meters, bested only by Russian
Lyukman Adams (17.10), while the bronze medal went
to the local favorite Bin Dong (16.69).
Sixteen-year old Martínez, with a personal record of
17.24 meters, surpassed two Olympic medalists,
Christian Taylor from the United States and
Britain’s Phillips Idowu.
In
the Grand Prix, held in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Cuba’s
Olympian Yarielsy Silva won a silver medal vaulting
for a modest 4.48 meters, 10 centimeters less than
the winner Mary Saxer, from the United States.
Head
coach Daniel Osorio said that the less than stellar
performance was no cause for concern, given that
Yarielsy was obliged to compete without her regular
equipment, emphasizing that she is in excellent
shape as the summer season begins.
Cuba
took two bronze medals in Puerto Rico, won by triple
jumper Mabel Gay and hammer thrower Roberto Janet,
who competed against several Olympic medalists.
Roberto Janet threw for 74.64 meters on his fourth
attempt, while Hungary’s Krisztian Pars took the
gold medal with a throw of 79.31 meters. Gay was
happy with her 14.42 meter jump on her fourth
attempt, bested only by Olympic silver medalist
Catherine Ibargüen (14.87) and Yosiris Urrutia
(14.47), both from Colombia. (Granma International
news staff).
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