Triple jumper Lázaro Martínez

Havana, February 18 (RHC/JIT)-- With the best world record of the season (17.21 m), Cuban triple jumper Lázaro Martínez had a luxury debut in indoor competitions, winning at the athletics meeting in Lievin, France, a gold category event of the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

Martinez, 24 years old and with a personal best of 17.28 meters from 2018, managed with his record on Thursday not only to place himself as the leader of the triple jump in the winter season, but also to qualify for the World Championships in March in Belgrade (Serbia).

From the first attempt on French soil (16.97 m) the Guantanamo native took the lead in the competition and in the indoor ranking of the season and in the second he achieved the successful leap of 17.21, his best result in the last 4 years.

Of 1.91 height, Martinez was a triple world champion in the junior categories, but then had irregular results, although he reached the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Now, under the helm of the once stellar Yoelbis Quesada "El Chispa" seems to return to the elite of the triple jump, a specialty in which Cuba has written a remarkable history, with medals at Olympic and world level.

In the women's pole vault, Yarisley Silva, also Cuban, finished sixth with 4.55 meters, after failing three attempts over 4.70 meters.

First place went to Anzhelika Sidorova, a Russian authorized to compete under a neutral flag, who achieved 4.85 meters as the new leading mark of the season. Belarusian Irina Zhuk celebrated second place with a national record of 4.80 meters and U.S. Olympic champion Katie Nageotte finished third, also with 4.80 meters.

In the men's 60 meters, the Olympic hectometer champion, Italy's Marcell Jacobs, reigned with 6.53 seconds, and the long jump had Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas, world record holder and Olympic gold medalist, as the great protagonist, taking first place with a personal best of 6.81 meters.

The highlight of the meeting was provided by Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, 1,500 meters champion in Tokyo 2020, by improving the world indoor distance world record. He clocked 3:30.60 minutes in a spectacular race in which he beat the previous record holder, Ethiopia's Samuel Tefera (3:33.70).