Hayla González
Havana, Jun 19 (JIT) - With her second success in European competitions, Cuban long jumper Hayla González finished today her performance in the International Athletics Meeting Villa de Bilbao 2024, in that Spanish city.
Hayla went as high as 6.62 meters in her fifth attempt to beat the hosts Laila Lacuey (6.45) and Irati Mitxelena (6.43) without too much of a shock.
The Havana native had two other good records of 6.40 and 6.60 meters, although unfortunately she was again below the minimum mark (6.86) required to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
A week ago in the Spanish city of Guadalajara, the champion of the most recent Copa Cuba won with 6.85 meters, adding 20 centimeters to her personal best.
Hayla will compete again next 23rd, again in Guadalajara, and could jump again in another meeting before the deadline for signing valid marks for Paris 2024.
The recent Bilbao event also hosted another presentation of Yoandys Lescay, another athlete who is chasing a ticket to the City of Light. The 400m specialist now covered the distance in 45.71 seconds, to escort Busang Kebinatshipi from Botswana (45.47) to the finish line.
Lescay once again showed stability in his results and accumulated points for the Olympic ranking, the only access to the Parisian event that would be available to him if he does not achieve a time of 45.00 seconds before the 30th.
Third this time was Kalinga Hewa Kumarage, from Sri Lanka, with a time of 45.91 seconds.
Sahyli Diago, from Matanzas, had less chances in the 800 meters, finishing fifth in an event of only 600 meters. Her time of 1:26.41 minutes, despite being her top time for the distance, was barely enough for a fifth position.
According to the information provided by the statistician Alfredo Sanchez, this is a race similar to the double lap of the oval, so her results are taken into account for the formation of the qualifying list.
Sahily has not managed to go under 2:00 minutes this season and only a time of 1.59:30 would guarantee her a safe passage to the event under the five rings.
Australia's Bendere Oboya won with 1:24.53 minutes, followed by Tharushi Karunarathna (1:24.84) of Sri Lanka and Brazil's Flavia Maria of Lima (1:25.84), in that order.
