Cubans Zayas and Leyanis in World Athletics finals today

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 18 (ACN) Cubans high jumper Luis Enrique Zayas and triple jumper Leyanis Perez will be in the finals today at the 18th World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, United States.

Zayas, who won the Pan American Games in Lima and finished fifth in the Doha championships, both in 2019, registered a 2.28-meter jump along with ten other athletes, including Olympic winners Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) and Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) and the South Korean Sanghyeok Woo, world indoor champion in Belgrade, Serbia.

Leyanis, in turn, won the First Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, in 2021, and the Ibero-American tournament held in May in Alicante, Spain. In Oregon, her qualifying mark was 14.30 m, good enough to be among the 12 qualified athletes, topped by the favorites Yulimar Rojas (the Venezuelan Olympic and world champion) and Portugal’s Patricia Mamona, runner-up in Tokyo 2020.