Two other top Cuban athletes, Luis Zayas and Roxana Gómez, will also participate in the third stop of the Diamond League in Florence (Italy) next Friday.
Both join triple jump world champion Lazaro Martinez, already confirmed several days ago, the manager of the Cuban athletics team, Jorge Luis Aguilera, told Radio Habana Cuba.
This time the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, in honor of the former Italian sprinter, will be held in the city of Florence, due to the repair of the historic Olympic Stadium in Rome, the usual venue of the event.
Fifteen Olympic champions and 31 world champions have confirmed their participation.
For triple jumper Lázaro Martínez, it will be his second appearance in the prestigious athletics circuit, after making his debut at the first stop in Doha with his best jump ever (17.71m, although with wind in his favor +3.4), with which he placed fourth.
In addition to the world indoor champion in Belgrade-2022, other world’s best athletes will compete in the triple jump, such as Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso), the Cuban Andy Diaz, based in Italy, and the Americans Will Claye and Christian Taylor, the latter recovered from a serious injury and looking to regain the form that had him at the top of the world for several seasons.
The recently confirmed Zayas and Roxana will be looking to continue improving their records in their League debut.
For the Pan American high jump champion and fifth in the Doha-2019 World Championships, it will be his first “big” competition in the outdoor season, in which he was an illusion in the recent Copa Cuba with 2.28m, his best mark on the island.
The high jump in Florence exhibits a respectable entry, with figures such as the Ukrainian Protsenko, the Korean Sangyeok Woo and the American JuVaughn Harrison, all with marks above 2.35m.
Roxana, meanwhile, has improved at every start and has just clocked her best time of the season in Forbach in the oval lap (50.63 sec), although still far from the 49.71 that made her an Olympic finalist and world champion in the 4×400 relay two years ago.
In the Italian meeting she will compete against several top-level athletes, such as the Dominican Fiordaliza Cofil (49.80), the American Lynna Irby-Jackson (49.80) and the Polish Natalia Kaczmarek (49.86).
Cuban athletics is training its main figures in competitions abroad in preparation for the Centrocaribes in San Salvador.
In the most recent competitions, Yunisleidis García, who in Martinique improved the old Cuban record in the 100 meters (11.08 sec), and the triple jumper Leyanis Pérez, author of a jump of 14.84m in the Diamond League in Rabat, a personal best that ratified her as the world’s number one in the season, shone.
