Sprinter Roxana Gómez ready for indoor tracks

Havana, February 8 (RHC)-- Roxana Gomez, from Cienfuegos, will face her first 400-meter indoor race this Wednesday at the Mondeville Meeting in France, where Cuban athletes Leyanis Perez and Liadagmis Povea have also confirmed their participation in the triple jump.

It was Roxana's turn to make history in 2021. She became the second Cuban to reach an Olympic final in the 400 meters and although it is true that an injury caused her to stop in the race in which the medals were being distributed, the mere fact of being included there was a phenomenon.

She registered a personal best time of 49.71 seconds in that semifinal at the National Stadium in Tokyo, only 10 hundredths of a second behind the Cuban record of Ana Fidelia Quiros (49.61) and since then she knows she can....

Now the challenge comes in her first time in indoor venues, where the tracks of just 200 meters have a different structure and therefore changes the race strategy.

She and her coach Ricardo Molina, who has been preparing the way with the resources at her disposal from here, such as trying tight turns on a small track in the Ciudad Deportiva or even on stretches of road that lent themselves to the occasion, know that.

This is what Molina told JIT shortly before traveling to Europe to complete the so-called winter stage, which aims at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade (March 15-18).

"This stage gives us the basis for the technical-tactical preparation we want to do for the summer. It also allows us to show ourselves to the elite and to learn to compete at that level", explains Molina about the current moment of Roxana, who is also a key player in the 4x400 relay that was an Olympic finalist and world relay champion.

"For this type of indoor track she has to get used to the fact that more strength is needed, that the technical elements to run the race are different and that makes her grow as an athlete", assures the coach who is also perfecting his knowledge for these scenarios.

"We have watched many videos, studied races, checking details that will be useful for us", she confesses thinking about these previous weeks lived in the Pan American Stadium in Havana.

Roxana has just turned 23 years old, she still has "a world" left in the sport and it depends on her how much she will be able to win. According to her trainer, her priority is to work hard on her strength and learn how to better distribute her running strategy.

"She has to learn to know herself better, because she prints all her speed in the last part of the race, but she has to know how to do it from the beginning," Molina explains.

"The best thing is that right now she is very focused on her challenge and in optimal physical condition," stressed the also 400m hurdles coach.

In Mondeville, a Bronze category event in the Indoor Tour, the British Ama Pipi, the Belgian Camille Laus and the Ukrainian Anastasiya Bryzhina have also been announced, all of them with lower times than the Cuban.

The women's triple is expected to be close. Young Leyanis Perez will now be the one to watch after she took first place in Miramas three days ago, regardless of the presence of Olympic medalists Patricia Mamona (POR) and Ana Peleteiro (ESP).

Leyanis was for the first time in an indoor arena and dominated with 14.47 meters that placed him with the third best record of the season, the question now is simple: will he repeat or will his victims take revenge? We will have to wait until Wednesday to find out.