German Lauro winning at the 2013 South American Championships (© Eduardo Biscayart)
Argentina’s German Lauro produced the most significant performance of the final day of competition of the 48th edition of the South American Championships (38th female edition) in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on Sunday (7).
Lauro, sixth at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the South American record-holder, won the shot put with a 20.87m performance, setting a championship record.
The 29-year-old from Trenque Lauquen was, not surprisingly, very pleased with his effort.
“Our goal, along with my coach, is to get to the Moscow World Championships in top form. After reaching the final in London, things have continued to go well and we were able to set a South American record at the Doha Diamond League (21.26m on 10 May),” said Lauro.
“After that we headed into further training focusing in Moscow. We have had strength works, workouts with heavier implements and very little technique with the 7.26kg shot. So, we hope that the final part of the preparation will go as planned.
“We will go back to Argentina and head to Europe on 20 July. First to Spain, and then to Russia,” he added.
Lauro’s gold in Cartagena was his second of these championships, after winning the discus on Friday. Overall, he has won a total of eight gold medals at the South American Championships: five consecutive shot titles and three in the discus.
The final day of competition in the tropical Cartagena saw a couple of fine 3000m steeplechase races. In a dominant display, Venezuela’s Jose Gregorio Pena set a championship record in the men’s race with 8:32.01. The 26 year-old Pena is having a fine season, having reduced the national record to 8:22.56 in April.
Brazil’s Erika Lima won the women’s race with a personal best of 9:54.97.
Host nation Colombia dominated both 800m races. Rafith Rodriguez retained the title he had won in Buenos Aires in 2011 when winning in 1:46.34, and a margin of almost two seconds over his opponents.
Rosibel Garcia won her fourth South American gold medal over 800m, and her ninth title counting her 1500m victories, clocking a season’s best of 2:02.45.
By contrast, javelin thrower Victor Fatecha obtained his first victory at the South American Championships with an effort of 76.14m. It was just Paraguay’s sixth gold medal in the history of the championships and came by the slim margin of one centimetre over Colombia’s Arley Ibarguen.
The 5000m races went to Ecuador’s Bayron Piedra in 14:15.35 and Colombia’s Carolina Tabares with a personal best of 16:09.82.
Brazil obtained three gold medals on the final day. Jefferson Dias Sabino won the men’s triple jump with his sixth-round effort of 16.73m, Monica Araujo de Freitas won the women’s high jump with 1.79m, and the women’s 4x400m team triumphed in 3:35.37.
Venezuela’s men’s 4x400m team won the final event of the meeting in 3:03.64.
Once again, Brazil dominated the medals table, collecting 24 gold medals, 11 silver and 13 bronze. Hosts Colombia was their nearest rivals with 7-17-10.
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
