Nine of the 12 athletes who were part of the Cuban canoeing delegation in Montreal, Canada, decided this Thursday not to return to Cuba after participating in the III World Cup of Sprint Canoeing and the Pan American Championship, marking the largest recorded defection in this discipline within Cuban sports, according to journalist Raúl Rodríguez citing a well-informed source.
The athletes who left the delegation are Madelen Heredia Domínguez, Lismary Bombino Resua, Julio Suárez Hidalgo, Carlos Abreu Herrera, Yisnoli López, Anthony Lamadrid Cabrera, Javier Requeiro Gil, Gabriela González Cruz, and Daylen Rodríguez.
Only three members remain linked to the national team: José Ramón Pelier Córdoba, Geduar González, and the world champion and Olympic medalist Yarisleidis Cirilo.
The delegation had traveled to Montreal to compete in the World Cup (from July 9 to 12) and the Pan American Championship (from July 13 to 15).
Heredia Domínguez and Bombino Resua withdrew before competing in any event, which forced Cuba to forfeit its representation in the women's four-person kayak event at 500 meters in the Pan American Games.
Despite the exodus, Cuba achieved results at the Pan American Championship: Yarisleidis Cirilo and Yinnolis Franchesca López won the gold in the women's C-2 500 meters with a time of 2:00.98, securing direct qualification for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima.
Cirilo had also earned a bronze medal in the World Cup in the C-1 200 meters with a time of 45.23 seconds.
The most immediate impact of the defections falls on the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, which are scheduled to kick off on July 24, just eight days away. Several of the athletes who have now departed — including Requeiro Gil, Bombino Resua, González Cruz, and Abreu Herrera — were registered to compete in Santo Domingo, where canoeing features 10 events in the program.
"The loss of nine members leaves Cuban canoeing with a seriously diminished team ahead of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo 2026, scheduled for July 24, and will force the federation to evaluate substitutes with little time to spare," Rodríguez stated.
This episode fits into a systematic pattern that has been affecting Cuban sports for years: since 2022, over 100 athletes per year have left delegations or breached contracts abroad, totaling more than 1,000 cases in the last decade.
In 2025, six athletes defected at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, and three rowers sought asylum in Paraguay.
In kayaking specifically, three kayakers had already left the delegation in Canada days before the full extent of the exodus was confirmed.
As of this Thursday, neither the INDER nor the Cuban Canoeing Federation have issued an official statement regarding the incident.
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