Cuba maintained their outstanding triple jump record - in the last event to be concluded at the 3rd IAAF World Youth Championships - as Denny Fernandez lived up his pre-event billing as the man to beat to strike gold with a second round jump of 15.77m.
Mohamed A Darwish of the United Arab Emirates took the lead in round one with a leap of 15.55m.
But in the second round, the most decisive of the competition, Mousa Qarqaran of Saudi Arabia moved ahead of Darwish with 15.60m a distance surpassed with the very next jump of the competition by Fernandez, who jumped 15.77m to secure gold. Qarqaran was unable to complete his final round attempt, pulling up with an apparent hamstring injury as he started down the runway.
There was no change in the medal order for the remainder of the event and little threat posed to the Championship record of 16.36m/s held by Great Britain’s Jonathan Moore.
Fernandez’s triumph adds to the two silver and one bronze medal won by Cuba in the two previous men’s triple jump competitions at the World Youth Championships.
