Havana, June 3 (RHC) - Third places for high jumper Luis Enrique Zayas and triple jumper Lazaro Martinez closed the day for Cuba at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea 2023 in Florence, Italy.
The event, a continuation of the Diamond League 2023, left among its exciting moments the world record of the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in the 1,500 meters.
Zayas obtained a record of 2.27 meters to climb a podium dominated by American JuVaughn Harrison, two centimeters above the 2.30 set by South Korean Sanghyeck Woo.
For the Santiago native, a world finalist in Eugene 2022, it was a good opportunity to show his talent in a circuit that has rarely opened its doors to him, making his prize even more relevant.
His sequence began with a pass over 2.15 meters from the first attempt. Then he had a failure at 2.20 and managed to pass over 2.24 meters without errors. He got the 2.27 also in his second opportunity, but failed three times with the rod at 2.30 meters.
For Lazaro Martinez it was a good night at the Liugi Ridolfi stadium, despite colder temperatures (17 degrees Celsius) than he would have liked. He secured a place in the vanguard thanks to a jump of 17.12 meters, registered as his best record so far this outdoor season.
Cuba's Andy Diaz, who no longer represents the Cuban federation, took the victory with a new personal best of 17.75 meters, which left Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso's 17.68 meter leap out of the running.
The discreet 16.32 meters of American Christian Taylor, far from his best moments of glory, when he won the Olympic and world titles, caught the eye.
Cuba's performance in the Italian event was completed with Roxana Gomez's fourth place in the oval lap with 51.29 seconds. Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek dominated with 50.41 and was followed at the finish by the Netherlands' Lieke Klaver (50.75) and USA's Lynna Irby-Jackson (50.84).
The biggest thrill of the day came from Kenyan Kipyegon with a world record of 3:49.11 minutes in the 1,500 meters, a performance that rounds off the career of a woman who is a double Olympic and world champion.
Kipyegon's time erased Genzebe Dibaba's 3:50.07 minutes from the books from July 2015, and impressively, she achieved it shortly after the new record holder became a mother.
The 29-year-old star ran a blistering pace in Florence on Friday. She covered the distance with an average speed of 24.8 kilometers per hour and her last lap was covered in an incredible time of 58.81 seconds, the first time in that stretch to go under a minute.
