Triple jumper Lazaro Martinez: Only Cuban in Lievin Meeting on Saturday

World runner-up Lazaro Martinez will compete this Saturday in the famous athletic Meeting in Lievin (France), where several of the world's triple jump stars will meet.

It will be the third competition for the stellar Cuban triple jumper in the current winter tour of Europe, preparatory for the World Indoor Championships in March in Glasgow and, above all, for the Olympic Games in Paris (July-August).

Martinez, world outdoor runner-up in Budapest-2023 and world indoor champion in Belgrade-2022, finished second last January 28 in L'Eure (France), with a time of 16.81, while last Tuesday in Torun (Poland), he finished fifth (16.48).

On the other hand, the Budapest bronze medalist Cristian Nápoles will not be in Lievan, as he will keep training at the Monte Gordo Training Center (Portugal), adjusting some details. Napoles, who was scheduled to compete in Lievan, finished fourth in L'Eure (16.30) and sixth in Torun with the same time.

Officials of the sport on the island are not worried about the records far from their best marks, as both are currently training with "high loads" focused on getting in top shape for the Olympic Games in Paris.

In the Meeting Hauts de France Pas de Calais de Lievin, one of the seven gold category events of the winter World Tour, the current world champion, Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso), and the Cuban nationalized Italian Andy Diaz, leader of the world list with 17.61m, were also registered in the triple jump.
Zango has held the meeting record since 2021 with 17.82.In addition to Zango, other athletics stars will be present in Lievin, such as the Dutch Femke Bol, the American Grant Holloway, and the Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay.

On the other hand, the presence on Saturday at the meeting in Hustopece (Czech Republic) of the three-time world finalist and two-time Pan American high jump champion, Luis Zayas, was cancelled, since the athlete will undergo medical examinations."Zayas arrives this Friday to Monte Gordo to be evaluated by Dr. Fidel Frias for the discomfort he suffered in Trinec in his take-off knee. He is no longer in pain, but he needs to be examined," Cuban athletics team manager Jorge Luis Aguilera told Radio Habana Cuba.

In his second competition in the tour, on Wednesday in Trinec, Zayas withdrew after a failed first attempt in 2.15 due to knee discomfort, after having won a day earlier in Udine (Italy) with a good record of 2.26.