Havana, December 22 (RHC) - Aslin Quiala and Rosaidi Robles, the two best Cuban garrochistas of the moment, have been in a training camp in Pamplona (Spain) since Friday under the guidance of the award-winning professor Alexandre Navas, with their sights set on Paris-2024.
"The goal is for both to train and compete in Europe in search of the qualification to Paris-2024," Navas, who for years has coached several Cuban pole vaulters, including Olympic runner-up and several times world champion Yarisley Silva (retired), told Radio Habana Cuba.
The 25-year-old Quiala closed last season with a personal best of 4.40m, achieved at the key competition, the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, where she won a valuable bronze medal.
Robles (22 years old) soared to 4.30 (May) and is also the current Cuban champion.
"I wanted both of them to get here on December 1. In the last two weeks in Cuba - they are preparing with Rolando Palacios Pulgarón - they have not been able to train well because of the weather conditions. But we are going to give our all and try to find that classification", said Navas and assured that at first the stay in Pamplona will be for three months.
The professor explained that there are 36 athletes entering the games in the Parisian capital and Quiala is now in 43rd place (in the RM there are more than 20 Americans among the first ones and only 3 per country).
About Rosaidi she considered that "she has very good parameters". "I know she can jump a lot. It will be her first time in a camp in Europe and hopefully she will take advantage of the opportunity," he concluded.
Under the guidance of Navas and other teachers such as Pulgarón and Rubén Camino, the Cuban women's pole vault has achieved important results in the last three decades.
Among his outstanding students were Maryoris Sánchez, first regional champion (2006), Daylis Caballero, Ibero-American champion (2012) and Yarisley Silva, world champion in Sopot-2014 and Beijing-2015, and Olympic runner-up in London-2012.