Cuban Rodríguez to Defend Title in World Junior Championship

Cuban heptathlonist Yorgelis Rodríguez will defend her world champion title obtained in Barcelona-2012, when she makes her debut in this year”s contest, in the U.S. city of Eugene, Oregon. Rodríguez will lead the group of four Cuban athletes who will compete Tuesday in the first day of the 15th World Junior Championship, which will be held until July 27 in the city of the US state of Oregon.

The current monarch of the specialty will be involved in the first four tests of the seven scheduled: 100 hurdle metres, high jump, pole vault and 200 flat meters.

If she wins, Rodríguez would equal the performance by Cuban female javelin thrower Osleidis Menéndez, who won the world champion title in Sydney-1996 and Annecy-1998-, remembered the website of Cuban radio station Radio Havana Cuba.

Besides her, on the opening day, other Cuban athletes will compete, such as the case of Santiago Alonso (decathlon), Roger Iribarne (110 m hurdles) and Sahily Diago (800 meters), these last in preliminaries.

In total Cuba will compete with 18 athletes, which will seek to improve the outcome of two years ago in Spain, when three gold and one bronze medals were achieved.

Through the history of these events, Cuba archived 23 medals of gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze.