Luis Enrique Zayas has not been able to retain his title at Bansko Brystika and yet he has improved his personal best of the season.    Photo: Facebook

Havana, July 14 (ACN)-- High jumper Luis Enrique Zayas, champion of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, will be the first to compete for Cuba at the XVIII World Championships in Athletics, based in Eugene, United States, which starts this Friday.

Zayas, who placed fifth at the Doha 2019 World Championships, will make his debut on Friday in the qualifying phase of the high jump, starting at 10:10 a.m. local time (13:10 p.m. Cuban time).

The Santiago native will try to be included once again among the 12 finalists of that event, in order to improve his place step by step.

Also on Friday, Maikel Masó (long jump), bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and sprinter Shainer Reginfo, in the 100 meters flat (m/p), will make their debut in the afternoon session.

Masó's specialty will start at 18:00 (local Eugene time), 21:00 p.m. in Cuba; while Reginfo will be in the eliminatory heats of the hectometer scheduled to start at 18:50 p.m. at the venue, that is 21:50 p.m. in Cuba, according to the official website of World Athletics.

Yaime Perez (discus throw), winner of the title in the previous universal edition of Doha 2019, and triples runner Lazaro Martinez, indoor world champion in Belgrade, Serbia, last March, head the list of 15 athletes from the Caribbean nation.

Also included are Liadagmis Povea and Leyanis Pérez, both triple jumpers, Roxana Gómez, Olympic finalist in the Japanese capital, along with Rose Mary Almanza, 800m/p.

Completing the list are the triple jumpers Andy Echavarría and Davileidys Velazco, the short hurdler Greisy Robles, the discus throwers Silinda Morales and Mario Díaz, as well as the javelinist Yiselena Ballart.

Three years ago in Doha, Cuba finished 12th in the medal standings, tied with Bahrain and Sweden, with one medal of each color.