Anisleidis Ochoa
Havana, May 27 (RHC).- A record for the competition and the confirmation of some talents saved the Barrientos Memorial in athletics, which took place without noise and discreet records in Havana, due to the absence of the country's leading figures.
On the same date, the stars of Cuban athletics were on tour in Europe and America with their sights set on Paris. This reduced the tournament to the presence of promising local athletes, some established who are still fighting to qualify for Paris and a few representatives from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Colombia.
On the track of the Pan American Stadium in eastern Havana, Anisleidis Ochoa once again reaffirmed herself as the queen of the moment on the island in the long-distance events, a historically disadvantaged area in Cuban athletics, but with some successes in recent years.
23-year-old Ochoa, baptized as “the Pole” in the Cuban field and track world, covered the 5,000m in 15.55.2 min, thereby shattering the record of the traditional meeting, established eleven years ago by Yudelkis Martínez (12/16/99) in Santa Clara.
The mark of Rafael McBeath's student reached her personal best (15.54.18 in 2023), recognized by the Cuban Athletics Federation as a national record, but not approved by the governing entity of universal athletics, World Athletics (WA), when considering which occurred in a mixed race (m and f).
However, in the history of WA, two other times appear as the best in Cuba in the 5000 fem: that of Yesenia Centeno (15.34.94) achieved in Seville in 2003, when she was already competing independently of the Cuban Federation, and that of Yudelkis Martínez (15.51.2) in 2002 in Santa Clara.
Of the young talents, the decathlete Josmi Sánchez stood out in the Barrientos, with a personal best in the pole vault (5.10m), the hurdler Jocelyn Echazabal (13.05 that could not be recognized as PB due to a light wind of +2.2 m/s), and Melissa Padrón (53.25 in the 400m, defeating the world champion with the 4x400 relay Lisneidy Veitía for the second time in a week).
It was also nice to see Yander Luis Herrera (17 years old) score in the 110 hurdles (13.61, with the height of the youth hurdles), and ballista Juan Carley Vázquez surpass 19.00m (19.04) for the third time in his career.
More experienced figures, although still young, such as Mario Díaz, maintained his stability on the discus (62.88), and Ronald Mencía on hammer (73.96).
Of the foreigners, the most notable was the 1-2 of the Dominicans in the 400 hurdles, with Luis Emerson and José Anderson providing a close duel (51.88 by 51.96 seconds).
