Yumileidi Cumbá of Cuba takes the women's Shot Put silver medal in Olympia (© Getty Images)
Havana, CubaOlympic medallists Yumileidi Cumbá (Shot Put) and Yunaika Crawford (Hammer) opened their seasons with good results at Havana's Estadio Panamericano on Thursday-Friday (3/4 March), in a local meeting which served as a tune-up for the National Championships, 17-19 March.
On a cool and cloudy day, Cumba made her first competitive presentation after claiming the Olympic gold in Athens and put the Shot to 18.24 in the second round. The 30-year old from Guantánamo had two other valid efforts (18.16 and 18.15) and beat her training partners, Olympic finalist Misleydis González (17.85) and Maylin Vargas (16.75).
”I was expecting to compete indoors and I just wanted to test my form and see how my training is going,” said the 2004 Budapest World Indoor Championships silver medallist.
A surprising winner in Olympia, Cumbá hopes to become the third Cuban woman to reach the 20m mark, after improving her personal best by almost half a metre to 19.97 last year. A World medal in Helsinki is the ultimate goal in 2005.
On Thursday, Crawford opened her season with a 68.11-meter win, followed by junior Arasay Thondike (64.38). Yipsi Moreno, the two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist, will begin to compete later this year as she is recovering from a foot injury.
”I had a better start than last year and I hope to continue improving and stay consistent. I want to prove the bronze medal in Athens was no fluke and also erase a bad result in the last World Championships with a good performance in Helsinki, said the 22-year old.
Also in the field, Guillermo Martínez improved his personal best in the Javelin to 82.12, meeting the A-standard for the World Championships in Helsinki. “A lot of hard work and sacrifice is behind this mark. I did not expect 82m this week. The parameters in training say I can throw 84-85 metres. I want to be around 82 metres and hopefully make it to the Worlds this year. It helps to have good Javelin throwers in our country, we will hopefully be at similar level like women,” stated 23-year old Martínez, who threw two times over 81m last year. Máximo Rigondeaux (75.16) and Yudel Moreno (72.93) followed as the next best.
Yargelis Savigne, the 2003 Pan American Games bronze medallist, continued to show her talent with a 6.72m win in the women’s Long Jump. Last week, she landed at 6.71. “The national record (6.99) is attainable and seven metres is what we need to be in the world elite", said Savigne.
Yudelkis Fernández, the best Cuban junior sportswoman in 2003-2004, could not pose a serious opposition as she did the previous week and finished a distant second in 6.36.
In the men’s event, Wilfredo Martínez, 19, wants to become the next Cuban (the 15th ever) to long jump eight metres. The 2003 Pan American Junior champion had three leaps over 7.90 (7.90, 7.94 and 7.95). Ibrahím Camejo, who flew to 8.20 a week earlier, opened with 7.70 and opted out after he felt a minor muscle injury in the second round. Ivan Pedroso, the nine-time World and 2000 Olympic champion, could only manage 7.46 in two valid efforts.
In the Triple Jump, 19-year old Alexis Copello was close to join the 17m club, with a 16.95 best in the third round. David Giralt, the 2002 World Junior champion and fourth at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, made his season debut with 16.89. Yoandri Betanzos, the World Championships silver medallist, and Yoelbi Quesada, opted to train and their next clash will in two weeks. Dennis Fernández, the 2003 World Youth champion, was third (16.24).
The women's event was taken by Olympic finalist Yusmay Bicet (14.32).
On the track, the fastest were Johan Frías (10.58) and Virgen Benavides (11.34) in the 100 metres races, and Roxana Diaz (23.45) and Frias (21.28) in the 200 metres. Sergio Hierrezuelo (49.90) and Yadira Issac (59.53) won the 400m Hurdles, as did World Junior silver medallist Dayron Robles (14.05) and Bertha Peñalver (13.64) in the 110m and 100m Hurdles.
Other winners were Yarianny Arguelles (1.85) and Yunier Carrillo (2.10) in the High Jump, Katiuska Perez in the Pole Vault (4.05), Yosmel Monte in the Hammer (70.07), Frank Casañas (62.04) and Yarelis Barrios (56.69) in the Discus.
World record holder and Olympic champion Osleidys Menéndez is expected to make her season debut next week in the final stop of a series of local competitions prior to the National Championships.
