One of the special moments for Cuba will arrive here on Wednesday with the discus throw final, a "battlefield" in which Yaime Perez from Santiago will defend her reign during the Oregon 2022 World Championships in Athletics, an event that is entering its final stretch.
Eugene, July 20 (JIT) - One of the special moments for Cuba will arrive here on Wednesday with the discus throw final, a "battlefield" in which Yaime Perez from Santiago will defend her reign during the Oregon 2022 World Championships in Athletics, an event that is entering its final stretch.
Yaimé calmly fulfilled the task of not leaving the throne vacant. She did it with a shot of 65.32 meters, her best mark in a season in which she was able to compete less than desired.
However, in the discussion of medals, when they all start from zero, other issues that are often decisive come to the surface.
The battle in the throwing circle at the legendary Hayward Field stadium will not lack tension. Host Valarie Allman already touched Olympic glory at Tokyo 2020 and now wants to be a prophet on home soil to seal a season in which she has shone with luxury records, including the 71.46 meters she scored in April as her new personal best.
Two dates ago, in the qualifiers, he was on the brink of the abyss with two initial faults. He only "snagged" the pass with a third throw of 68.36 meters. In any case, it is safe to say that she is the main favorite to win the crown. Even over the experienced Croatian Sandra Perkovic, the only discus thrower who could now reach three titles in these competitions, as she won in Moscow 2013 and London 2017.
The Cubans have been the only ones who have crossed her path to more awards at the world championships in the last decade. Denia Caballero snatched the scepter from her in Beijing 2015 and Yaimé prescribed the same dose in Doha 2019.
Perkovic opened her space in this final with a mark of 64.23 meters, but in the current season she has taken the implement beyond 68 and lifetime exhibits a top of 71.41.
The 22-year-old Dutch athlete Jorinde Van Klinken, with a personal record of 70.22 meters in 2021, seems to be the other one to follow closely on Wednesday, a day in which Cuba will also be watching sprinter Roxana Gómez, in the semifinal of the 400 meters.
It will be the third experience of the Cienfuegos athlete in this instance, as she keeps in her memory the incursions in the planetary lides of London 2017 and Doha 2019. Advancing to the final would represent the best proof of progression, even though achieving it will be very difficult.
The oval lap is one of the events with the best records at present, and in the opinion of specialists it will be necessary to go under 50 seconds to be included in the medal discussion.
Roxana knows how to do it. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, she passed to the finals with 49.71 seconds, only 10 hundredths of a second off the national record. She will most likely have to repeat that performance to be among the eight candidates for the throne.
DATA FOR THE ARCHIVE
- The tradition of Cuban women in discus finals dates back to the first editions of these events. Maritza Martén was the protagonist of those times and although she never won medals, she came in fourth place twice (Stuttgart 1993 and Gothenburg 1995).
- Yarelis Barrios won silver medals in Osaka 2007 and Berlin 2009, as well as bronze in Daegu 2011 and Moscow 2013. We are talking about one of the multi-medalists in this event along with Perkovic (2-1-1) and Romania's Nicoleta Grasu (0-1-3).
- Germany leads the points table in this specialty with 119. Cuba is second with 77 thanks to two gold, three silver and two bronze medals, in addition to four fourth places, one fifth, one sixth and one eighth.
