On the road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Cuban triple jumper Leyanis Pérez made another statement and reigned without any setbacks this Sunday during the seventh stop of the Diamond League athletics in Stockholm, Sweden.
At 22 years old, the indoor world runner-up had the best attempt of the day, with 14.67 meters, to outperform her two main rivals ahead of the multisport competition on French soil: Shanieka Ricketts (14.40, Jamaica), silver, and Thea Lafond (14.26, Dominica), bronze.
Given the well-known absence of Venezuelan star Yulimar Rojas, world record holder (15.74), the aforementioned trio has the main chances to dominate the Olympic podium, although Cuban athlete Liadagmis Povea could also join the group.
At the event in question, Pérez achieved another jump of 14.57, which would have also been enough to repeat the victory achieved in the fifth stop organized in the U.S. city of Eugene. It is worth mentioning that there, on May 25th, he jumped to 14.73, maintaining his undefeated record in the Diamond League tour.
Third in the world outdoors in Budapest, Hungary, and golden at the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, both results in 2023, the lanky athlete seems to be on the right path towards competing in the event under the five rings.
In fact, several specialists and followers of the so-called "king sport" place her as a sure medalist and hope that she will update her personal record of 14.98 in the best possible scenarios.
According to the statistics of World Athletics, the representative from the largest of the Antilles shows as her main result in 2024 what was achieved at the global event in Glasgow, Scotland, last March, with 14.90; while outdoors, the figure achieved on US soil stands out.
Paris 2024 will take place from July 26 to August 11, and Cuba plans to win a minimum of five titles to position itself among the top 25 nations in the final medal table, according to the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation.
Three years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Cuba finished in the fourteenth position on the leaderboard, with a total of seven gold medals, three silver medals, and five bronze medals.
What do you think?
COMMENTArchived in: