Report07 Jul 2013


Quinonez and Lemos Silva double up at South American Championships

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Alex Quinonez wins the 200m at the 2013 South American Championships (© Eduardo Biscayart)

Ecuador’s Alex Quinonez and Brazilian Ana Claudia Lemos Silva shone at the second day (6 July) of the 2013 South American Championships, which are taking place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, at the “Campo Elias Gutierrez” stadium.

After grabbing the 100m titles on 5 July, both Quinonez and Lemos Silva won the 200m finals by big margins.

The 23-year-old Quinonez, a finalist at the 2012 Olympic Games at 200m, triumphed in 20.44 (1.8m/s), beating Colombian Bernardo Baloyes and Brazilian Jorge Henrique Vides, both timed at 20.71. The 19-year-old Baloyes cramped up in the final stages of the race. Quinonez equalled the championship record set by Brazilian Robson Caetano da Silva in 1989.

Both victories by Quinonez are historical for Ecuadorian athletics, as no athlete from that country had ever won a sprinting event at the South American Championships. And after reaching the Olympic final and showing great form in 2013, Quinonez might be seen as a candidate to reach a major final again, in this case at the Moscow World Championships.

Lemos Silva’s winning time was a wind-assisted 22.70 (3.4m/s). Venezuelan Nercely Soto (23.05) and Ecuadorian Erika Chavez (23.10) completed the podium.

The 24-year-old from the State of Ceara felt tired at the end of the race. “I haven’t reduced my training loads for this event. The goal is to be in the final in Moscow,” said Lemos Silva, who has had a wonderful season so far, highlighted by her 11.05 South American 100m record set in Belem at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 12 May.

Later in Saturday’s session, Lemos Silva ran the second leg of Brazil’s 4x100m relay which captured the victory in 43.37 – alongside Evelyn dos Santos, Franciela Krasucki and Jailma de Lima.

Other notable moments from day two came from the infield. Brazilian Geisa Arcanjo, a Shot Put finalist at the London Olympics, won her event with 18.27m in round five, setting a season’s best.

In the Javelin, Colombian Flor Denis Ruiz set a championship record with her round-three throw of 60.23m, achieving the qualification standard for the World Championships.

In the morning session Brazilian Wagner Domingos took victory in the Hammer with a season’s best of 71.36m. Domingos brought the event’s title to Brazil for the first time in 30 years, breaking the series of nine consecutive titles by Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Cerra, the South American record-holder and the most decorated athlete in the history of these championships. The 36-year-old Cerra was second in Cartagena with a season’s best of 69.33m.

In the women’s Long Jump Macarena Reyes became the fifth Chilean, and the first since 1971, to win the South American title. The 29-year-old jumped 6.54m on her final attempt to displace the Brazilian duo of Keila Costa and Jessica dos Reis from the top of the podium, both jumping 6.49m.

Winners of the rest of the men’s events from day two were Brazil’s Mahau Suguimati in the 400m Hurdles (49.86), Brazil’s Talles Silva in the High Jump (2.22m), Argentina’s Roman Gastaldi in the Decathlon (7273), Brazil in the men’s 4x100m (39.47), and Brazil’s Caio Bonfim in the 20,000m Race Walk (1:24:28.4).

The other women’s winners were all Brazilian: Cruz da Silva in the 10,000m (34:44.14), Liliana Fernandez in the 400m Hurdles (58.03), Karla da Silva in the Pole Vault (4.20m), and Tamara de Souza in the Heptathlon (5685).

The event will conclude on 7 July.

Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

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