Havana, April 24 (ACN)-- Cuban canoeist José Ramón Pelier will look for an Olympic ticket for Paris 2024 this Wednesday afternoon, by qualifying in the morning for the final of the (C1) 1,000 meters in the Pan American Canoeing of speed, based in Sarasota, Florida.

With world-class medals and Olympic experience in Tokyo 2020, Pelier walked the distance in his classification heat with 4-03.671 minutes, the best time among all competitors, to far surpass Colombian Sergio Díaz (4.13.883) and both qualify directly to the final A.

In the other series, Canadian Connor Fitzpatrick (4.05.096) won, at first glance the Cuban's main rival this afternoon in the title dispute.

Each modality grants two Olympic tickets to Paris, the last in canoeing.

The Guantanamo native from the municipality of Baracoa arrived in Sarasota with the label of favorite, due to his status as champion of the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile 2023, an event in which he surpassed the Brazilian Isaquias Queiroz, owner of four Olympic medals, including gold. in Tokyo 2020.

The other Cuban canoeist present in the Pre-Olympic is the kayaker Daylen Rodríguez, who will look for the ticket on Thursday in the single-seater (K1) at 500 meters.

Before leaving for the United States, CN Alejandro Hamze declared to the Cuban News Agency that both had completed a good stage of preparation with an eye on the pre-Olympic.

In the pre-Olympic, 76 canoeists from 18 countries registered in the canoe and kayak modalities.