• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 09 / 07 / 2010

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Triple jumper Alexis Copello and long jumper Yargelis Savigne won two silver medals, as hammer thrower Yipsi Moreno contributed one bronze medal in the closing day of the Continental Athletics Cup in Split, Croatia, won by Europe with 429 points.

After two days of a lot of intensity, the representatives of the so-called Old Continent finished in first place with barely 9.5 points ahead of the team of our geographical region, though the two won the same number of events: 13.

In the meantime, Africa (292) and Asia-Pacific (286.5) won 7 each.

In the second and last day, Cuba had six representatives, but the main dividends went to Copello, Savigne and Yipsi. The first jumped 17.25 meters and led the event until his last attempt, when Romanian Marian Oprea surpassed him with 17.29.

For her part, Savigne got her own back for the bronze in the first day of competition after becoming runner-up in a specialty where she has incursed occasionally: long jump. Her jump of 6.63m was the best of the fourth round, before Uzbek Yuliya Tarasova jumped 6.70.

The third medal was contributed by the hammer throw two-time Olympic runner-up, who demonstrated again that her comeback to the elite after her pregnancy is a reality, because she sent the implement 72.73m, only lower than Russian Tatyana Lysenko’s  73.88 and Chinese Wenxiu Zhang’s 73.69.

The rest of the Cuban squad contributed important points to the team of our continent, notwithstanding their marks were below their PB of this year. Misleidis Gonzalez was fourth in shot put (18.62m), discus thrower Jorge Fernandez placed sixth (61.18m), high jumper Lesyani finished in sixth place (1.78m), and Jose Alberto Sanchez was eighth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase (8:48.11).

Among the champions of our continent in the last day were David Oliver in 110m hurdles (13.11), Bernard Lagat in 3000m (7:54.75), Wallace Spearmon in 200m (19.95), and the two 4x400m relay events.

The performance of the Cuban representatives –which included the bronzes achieved by discus thrower Yarelis Barrios and triple jumper Savigne in the first day–, finally added 50 points for the Americas team. Once again, our athletics passed the acid test successfully, in spite of its pending marks in speed, which we will have to talk about at any time.

By Joel García

Cubasi Translation Staff