The Vicente Quesada sports complex, in Bayamo, is serving as headquarters for the training of multi-medalist and Paralympic champion in the Rio Games of 2016, Lorenzo Perez, category s6 freestyle swimmer, and Yasmany Izquierdo, Paralympic runner-up in Lima-2019, category s2 in the 50-meter freestyle.

In Havana’s Baraguá pool complex, Parapan American butterfly champion in Toronto-2015, category s9, Juan Castillo, is preparing under the watchful eye of his coach Luisa Mojarrieta, along with the young freestyle swimmer Joviel Sanchez, s11 category, receiving the expert guidance of Dayron Jorge.

Head coach Ernesto Garrido told Jit that the team has aspirations for all four parathletes in the Tokyo-2020 Games, with Perez as the only swimmer who has qualified thus far.

“April 8-12, the pre-Olympic in Great Britain will be held, and on the 17th options will end. The qualifiers will then go to a training camp scheduled in May, in Mexico, and then competitions that take place from June onward,” Garrido reported.

(Taken from Granma)

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)