Havana, April 29 (RHC) - Juan Miguel Echevarría, the only jumper capable of threatening the world record in long jump in recent times, affirmed that he will continue defending the colors of Cuban athletics, after traveling to Spain to take the helm by Iván Pedroso.
"I'm going for Cuba," the Cuban jumper, Olympic runner-up in Tokyo, world champion in Birmingham-2018 and bronze in Doha-2019, said in statements to Radio Havana Cuba (www.radiohc.cu).
He added that he aspires to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, whose minimum mark required by World Athletics is 8.27m, and assured that the new step "is discussed with the Cuban athletics authorities."
A 25-year-old native of the Cuban province of Camagüey, Echavarría said that last Saturday he traveled to Spain to join the group of his compatriot Pedroso, considered one of the best coaches in the world and in which figures such as the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas stand out ( injured), the Spanish Ana Peleteiro and the Cuban nationalized Spanish Jordan Díaz.
After finishing injured in Tokyo-2020 (2021), Echevarría practically disappeared from the map of world athletics, in 2022 he requested the withdrawal of Cuban athletics for personal reasons, in 2023 he settled in Portugal and signed for the Benfica club and the end of week he joined “team Pedroso” in the Spanish city of Guadalajara.
At just 20 years old, the also Pan American monarch in Lima-2019 amazed the world with several jumps over 8.60m, including his personal best (8.68). That same year it stretched up to 8.83m in the Stockholm Diamond League with wind greater than the permissible limit by a very narrow margin (2.1 m/s) and in 2019 it flew up to 8.92 in Havana, also with a tailwind of 3.3.
The world of athletics was at his feet and everyone pointed him out as the great candidate to break Mike Powell's world record (8.95), but several injuries and personal situations ruined the possibility.
Cuba achieved two medals in Tokyo-2020 in the long jump, silver from Juan Miguel and bronze from Maykel Massó, who is currently recovering from surgery.
