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The star athlete from Cuba, Yarisleidis Cirilo, won the silver medal in the C1-200 meters event—considered the premier event in sprint canoeing—at the World Cup held in Szeged, Hungary, with a time of 44.19 seconds.
According to the site JIT, the Guantanamo canoeist was outperformed only by the Ukrainian Liudmyla Luzan, who took the gold with a time of 43.23 seconds. The podium was completed by another Ukrainian representative, Iryna Fedoriv, with a time of 44.35 seconds.
The day held a double personal significance for Cirilo: he was celebrating his 24th birthday and it coincided with Mother's Day in Cuba, making the medal a symbolic gift for his mother, Yaritza Dubois, and for all the mothers on the island.
The result is added to that obtained the previous day, when Cirilo and his partner Yinnolis Franchesca López were crowned champions in the double canoe at 200 meters, their first major result as a duo in the international elite.
In that final on Saturday, the Cuban pair recorded a time of 41.53 seconds, securing victory over the crews from China—who took silver with 41.67 seconds—and Uzbekistan—who won bronze with 42.04 seconds—confirming Cuba's competitive rise on the global sprint canoeing stage.
Cirilo arrives at this moment with an elite track record that supports her status as a dominant figure in the discipline. The Cuban won the Olympic bronze in Paris 2024 in the same event of C1-200 meters, becoming the first Cuban woman to win an Olympic medal in sprint canoeing.
Before Paris, Cirilo was crowned absolute world champion in Duisburg 2023 and won gold at the Pan American Games in Santiago that same year. In July 2025, she returned to the top of the podium at the U-23 World Championship held in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, becoming the only competitor to finish under 48 seconds.
In Szeged, Cirilo also has a particularly positive track record: he had already reached the podium in previous editions, including a silver medal at the 2021 Canoeing World Cup in the same Hungarian city.
The Szeged World Cup 2026, held from May 8 to 10, is the first stop of the season's circuit and awards points for the qualification and ranking for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Cirilo and López also competed on Friday in the C2-500 meters, advancing to the semifinals with a time of 2:00.54 minutes, which highlights the breadth of their preparation for the new Olympic cycle.
Both athletes will be present at the second stop of the circuit, held in Brandenburg, Germany, from May 14 to 17.
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