Cuban Jumper Confirms His Quality with 8.40-Meter Record

Cuban long-jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría proved that his 8.40-meter jump at the World Indoor Athletic Championships on Friday was not a fluke.

The 19-year-old athlete set the record in the outdoor season at the Rafael Fortún stadium in this central Cuban and ratified his excellent physical fitness after competing in the British city of Birmingham, where he won the gold medal with an 8.46-meter jump.

However, his coach Daniel Osorio, who took over his training a few months ago, noted that Echevarria's results are not a surprise.

'He has an ideal physique, I had seen him years ago, when he was still in Camagüey, and I followed his evolution closely,' he told Prensa Latina.

'Last year, he made very good jumps, over eight meters, so I predicted that at some point he would explode,' the coach of the national team noted.

After concluding his career in the junior category with a discreet performance at the World Championships in London last summer, Echevarria went on under Osorio's supervision in the senior category and his training focused on the psychological aspect.