While the obligatory hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the dream of Olympic glory, his confident start this season is laying the necessary foundations to reach the top. In his first two performances, in Karslruhe, Germany, and Lievin, France, he took top honors with record jumps over eight meters: 8.18 and 8.25, respectively, results that again established him as leader of the long jump, a position he has held since 2020.

He employed different strategies in the two events. In the German competition, Echevarría went for his best on the first attempt, a practice that has characterized his style. He achieved the definitive 8.18, followed with jumps of 7.72 and 8.09, and declined his final two attempts. In France, he started slower, going from shorter to longer jumps. It wasn’t until the last opportunity that he jumped over eight meters. In this event, he debuted a new, more progressive impulse run, which allowed him to reach the take-off with much more strength.

Among his rivals, Miltiadis Tentoglou, the current European champion from Greece, appears to be the most consistent, thus far, with a record of 8.21, obtained in Lievin. Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle and U.S. jumper Jeff Henderson, gold and silver in Doha 2019, have not competed yet this year, thus, we will have to wait to see who could challenge Echevarría, who will close his winter season in the Madrid meet.

Luis Enrique Zayas has won a medal with all his high jump performances thus far. With the absence of Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, the great favorite to take the crown in Tokyo, Zayas, Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, have dominated winter circuit events. The Cuban will seek to surpass 2.30 meters in an upcoming event in Torun, Poland, which he has achieved before, with a 2.31m jump in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.

(Taken from Granma)

A review of the history of pole vault in World and Olympic competitions shows that only the Cuban and Brazil’s Fabiana Murer have been able to challenge European and U.S. competitors who dominate the event, including Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, Stacy Dragila and Jennifer Suhr from the U.S. as well as Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece.

Silva, from the western province of Pinar del Río, won silver in the London 2012 Games, gold in the Beijing 2015 World Championships and Sopot 2014 Indoor event, as well as bronze in the World tournaments in Moscow 2013 and London 2017.

Modest and reserved, but sure of herself, the 30 year old athlete spoke with Prensa Latina about her plans and goals.

“Tokyo – hosting the 32nd Olympic Games – is two years away and who knows what will happen, but I’ve always said that it is my dream (to win gold) because it’s the only global title I’m missing,” stated the Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015 Pan American champion.

“I would like” she added “to retire with an Olympic gold medal, this is the dream I’m trying to achieve and I still have hopes, desires, and the intention to continue moving forward.”

According to the global multi-medal winner, as well as her aim to win an Olympic gold, she is also motivated by the love and support of her people, who celebrate every triumph and suffer every defeat alongside her.

Silva is well aware of what she is up against at this high level event which “anyone can win,” including renowned figures such as Stefanidi (28 years of age) from Greece, Sandi Morris (25) of the U.S., and Russia’s Anzhelika Sidorova (26).

Morris beat out Sidorova (4.91) with a leap of 4.95 meters during the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham, the UK, last March, in a spectacular final, leaving Río de Janeiro 2016 and London 2017 World Champion Stefanidi (4.80) in third place.

Regarding the last Olympic Games, Silva, with a personal best of 4.91 meters, acknowledged that, although not without its merits, her seventh place result was disappointing.

“It was a great struggle, really hard. The level was very high and I‘d had some problems,” she noted.

The Cuban athlete explained that she began training a little late, in early November and was experiencing some trouble.

“Although I wasn’t in the best condition we decided to compete all the same; we thought that I should go to represent my country and use the competition as preparation for this year’s main event, the Barranquilla Central American and Caribbean Games,” she noted.

Regarding her schedule in the lead up to the Barranquilla competition, taking place July-August, Silva explained that she will travel to Mexico to undergo training and participate in three stops of the Diamond League, in Monaco and England.

Despite the high level of pole vault globally, the Cuban athlete cannot be ruled out among the favorites in these global competitions because, as her fans have come to expect, win or lose, she’ll fight to the very end.

(Granma)

The young long jumper and his coach Daniel Osorio Díaz have returned home, to continue training for the next competition, the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia, and took a moment to talk with Granma.

How much luck was involved in Echevarría’s performance at the World event?

Osorio: It had nothing to do with luck. Juan Miguel has been making steady progress as an athlete. He had some very good jumps last year, over eight meters, so we could predict that, at some point, he would make this great one, and so it was.

How do you remember the competition’s most challenging moments?

Echevarría: I think Manyonga, Marquis Dendy from the United States, and I offered an excellent spectacle. It was a strong, exciting event, that demanded lots of concentration. I would say that I put body and soul into every jump, going for the gold or the silver.

I think that in addition to feeling good physically, the psychological preparation I had helped a lot to deal with so much pressure from two world champion athletes, who put me against the wall several times. The level of competition at the event was such that I beat my personal record on two occasions.

How many details must come together to produce such an impressive outcome?

Osorio: There are many factors, that must come together at the exact moment: the pace of the run, the technical execution, the athlete’s psychological condition. We have worked a lot on controlling competitive anxiety, something that in previous events he was not able to overcome, be it because of his youth or immaturity. All of this was directed toward the outcome, and the change can be seen. That is why the public was so surprised to see him, at just 19 years of age, seemingly competing like a champion. Likewise, his physique is ideal for this discipline, the product of work with many trainers.

Who discovered Juan Miguel and guided him to high performance sports?

Echevarría: My career is similar to that of many other athletes in the country. I started in athletics at ten years of age, at Ernesto Lucas Elementary School, in the Guernica neighborhood, in this city, and later transferred to the Cerro Pelado EIDE (high performance school), until I made the national team, after participating in many events and competitions.

During those years, I had excellent trainers, like Tomás Hernández and Iván Izaguirre, in Camagüey; then Juan Gualberto Nápoles on the juvenile team, and since September, I’ve been with profe Daniel Osorio. Every one of them has contributed his grain of salt to my overall development.

What were you looking for in the recent Rafael Fortún athletics competition?

Echevarría: I wanted to offer my people, in my Camagüey, a quality show and I believe I accomplished this. I finished with a jump of 8.40 meters, considered the best outdoor record worldwide during the current season.

(Granma)

Robles 13.07 seconds time equaled the world record of Chinese sprinter Liu Xiang.

The Cuban gold medalist from Beijing 2008, plagued by injuries during the last two years, defeated Dwight Thomas of Jamaica (13.18) and Terence Trammell of the USA (13.31).

European champ Andy Turner of Great Britain finished seventh (13.72).