Cuban discus throwers Silinda Morales and Melany Matheus won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the final of their specialty in athletics at the I Pan American Junior Games to be held in Cali, Colombia, until December 5.

Havana, December 1 (RHC)-- Cuban discus throwers Silinda Morales and Melany Matheus won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the final of their specialty in athletics at the I Pan American Junior Games to be held in Cali, Colombia, until December 5.

Both athletes fulfilled the predictions and made the 1-2 in the discus throw, with a highlight for Morales, owner of the U20 world bronze medal three years ago, who achieved a record of 59.13 meters (m).

In the case of Matheus (54.31 m), she won the silver medal, while the bronze went to Chile's Catalina Bravo (52.44 m), according to the competition's official website.

These were Cuba's first medals in the king of sports in this continental multi-sport event for young people.

Also this Tuesday at the Pascual Guerrero Stadium, long jumper Yanisley Carrión came eighth in the final of that modality with a jump of 6.01 m.

In other performances of representatives of the island, the four long hurdlers reached their finalist places.

Among the women, Ariliannis Colas was the first to secure her ticket by clocking 57.89 seconds (sec) in the preliminaries of the 400 meters (m) hurdles, breaking her lifetime best (58.99).

In heat 1 Colas was only surpassed by the host Valeria Cabezas (57.53 sec); and in heat 2 Darielys Sentella (59.64 sec) reached the finish line behind Brazil's Chayenne Pereira (57.40 sec), one of the serious contenders for the title in that specialty.

For the men, Yoao Puentes and Lázaro Rodríguez dominated their respective qualifying heats.

Rodriguez won heat 2 with a personal best of 51.10 sec; while Puentes (51.89 sec) reached the finish line first in heat 1, also with the best time of his life.