Andres Silva winning the octathlon (© Getty Images)
Uruguay’s Andrés Silva, former 2003 IAAF World Youth Octathlon’s champion, improved this weekend the South American record of the Decathlon with junior implements with a 7546 points performance, at the meet “Rey de Atletas” in the Argentinean city of Rosario.
The 19-year-old from Tacuarembó, and holder of the Octathlon’s World Youth Best performance - 6456 points - had a Decathlon’s previous best of 7542 points, while placing fifth at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto.
In Rosario, Silva (who represents the Club Campus de Maldonado) scored 10.88 (wind –0.6) in the 100 metres, 7.25m (wind 0.0) in the Long Jump, 13.20m with the 6kg Shot, a personal best of 1.91m in the High Jump and 47.45 in the 400 metres, to produce a first day of 4100, 15 points short of his performance in Grosseto.
On the second day he had marks of 15.32 (wind –0.4) at the 110 metres Hurdles, 32.33m with the 1.75kg Discus, 4.20m in the Pole Vault, 51.09m in the Javelin and a personal best of 4:14.85 at 1500 metres.
Silva plans to contest the Decathlon at the upcoming Pan-American Junior Championships in Windsor, Canada, from 29 to 31 July.
Promising Youth Athletes
The month of July will also be busy for the young athletes, with the 4th edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech, from Wednesday 13th to Sunday 17th, and this past, was a weekend of intense action in South America for those new talents.
Venezuelan Keisa Monterola (Club Olimpia), born on 28 February 1988, improved the national Pole Vault record with a 4.22m jump this past Saturday 4 June in Barquisimeto, a mark that’s also a new CAC record.
Monterola had jumped 4.20m last 28 May in Maracaibo, and had a previous best of 3.90m from 2004.
In São Paulo, sprinter Franciela Krasucki (Brasil Telecom) produced a remarkable 100/200 metres double at the Paulista Youth Championships, with times of 11.59 (wind 1.9, on 4 June) and 23.89 (wind 1.6, on 5 June).
Krasucki, born on 26 April 1988, has personal bests of 11.48 and 23.72, both from 2004, and seems to be getting in form as we get closer to the date of Marrakech, where she could be a factor in the fight for the top places.
Another promising Brazilian, Claiton Dias Sabino (Esporte Guarulhos – born 9 November 1988) scored 5881 points in the second Octathlon of his life.
Dias Sabino, whose older brother Jefferson is a 16.66m triple jumper, had a good first day, with a 3271 points split, after performances of 11.08 in 100m (wind 0.2), 7.22m in the Long Jump (wind –0.5), 14.56m with the 5kg Shot, and 50.41 at 400m.
Those 3271 were only 111 points short of the first day’s split of Andrés Silva’s World Youth Best performance, but on the second day, Dias Sabino faded a bit and showed that he still has some more work to do in the High Jump and the Javelin.
His marks for the last 4 events were 14.09 (wind 1.1) at the 110m Hurdles (0.91m), 1.68m in the High Jump, 42.83m with the 700 grams Javelin and 3:02.68 at 1000m. Yet, his performance from the weekend was a clear improvement from his previous of 5425, scored last 13 and 14 May in São Caetano do Sul.
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
