Havana, March 4 (JIT) - Cuba's small representation took 20th place in the medal table of the Glasgow 2024 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Scotland, which ended on Sunday.

A silver metal by triple jumper Leyanis Perez catapulted the island to 20th place.

With a jump of 14.90m, a personal best, the Budapest-2023 bronze medalist remained among the elite and confirmed her podium chances at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"I am not satisfied with the result, but I had a good competition and I hope to surpass 15 meters soon," said to JIT the also champion of the XIX Pan American Games of Santiago 2023, hours after reaping her first prize of the orb in indoor track.

The Cuban armada arrived in the Scottish capital with four triple jumpers, but only three had action, as Liadagmis Povea suffered an injury in the warm-up.

In the men's section, Lázaro Martínez could not successfully defend his crown and barely contributed the points corresponding to his eighth place, with a discreet record of 16.69 meters.

Also below his possibilities was Cristian Nápoles, with only two jumps in the competition before withdrawing due to ankle discomfort. Both must step on the accelerator in their preparation for the Parisian event, if they intend to battle for a medal there.

Thanks to Leyanis' performance, Cuba maintained its presence in the medal standings, something achieved in 19 of the 20 editions held so far, including the IAAF World Indoor Games in Paris 1985.

The United States took the place of honor, after winning 20 metals, divided into six gold, nine silver and five bronze, while Belgium starred in a historic performance, closing second in the medal distribution with a balance of 3-0-1. Equally unexpected was the placing of New Zealand, which completed the top three with 2-2-0.In the points ranking, the northerners dominated with 195 points, followed by Great Britain (51) and Italy (50). Cuba accumulated eight and anchored in 22nd place.

Among the details that marked the recently concluded universal indoor event, it should be noted that in only five of the 13 modalities called for each sex, the winners of two years ago in Belgrade were repeated. Belgium's Noor Vidts, winner of the pentathlon, was the only woman to do so.However, the world records set in the event were set by the Dutch Femke Bol (49.17 seconds in the 400 meters) and the Bahamian Devynne Charlton (7.65 seconds in the 60 meters hurdles).The Caribbean athlete's victory came on the date of her farewell, while Sweden's Armand Duplantis won his second title in these events, although with a certain scare.