Cuban high jumper first in athletic meeting in Italy

In his debut this year, Cuban athlete Luis Enrique Zayas won the high jump event in Udine, Italy, a Challenger category competition of the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

Zayas, who boasts an outdoor personal best of 2.33 m and finished first in the 2019 and 2023 Pan Am Games, reached the 2.26-meter mark in his first attempt, enough to leave behind the Mexican Roberto Vilches (2.21 m) and the Ukrainian Andrey Protzenko (2.18 m).

Among the event guests was the Cuban Olympic and world champion Javier Sotomayor, holder of the world high jump record (2.45 m), whose 16-year-old son Jaxier competed in Udine.