This Thursday, September 18, shortly before 9 p.m., it began to rain in Tokyo. That was the worst possible omen for Leyanis Pérez. Her mind must have inevitably been filled with the memory of the downpour that fell from the Parisian sky in the Olympic Games finals a year ago, when she was left off the podium despite being one of the favorites to take the throne vacated by Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas.
But that very outcome in Saint-Denis has undoubtedly been the greatest learning experience for Leyanis, who in just a few months became the undisputed world champion in the triple jump, both indoors and outdoors. Those two achievements fit on a single line and are said in half a second, but they have cost the lanky jumper blood and sweat, and she has exploited her natural talents to the fullest extent on that narrow path to the top.
Her crowning achievement at the world’s top track and field event came, as we mentioned, on a rainy night in Tokyo, on the other side of the world, thousands of miles from her hometown of Pinar del Río. There, before the eyes of all the champions of recent major international events, she demonstrated that she is the fittest triple jumper in the world and, above all, that she has developed remarkable mental strength to compete on any stage.
Her sequence at the National Stadium in Japan, where she was unable to jump during the 2021 Olympic Games due to injury, was extraordinary: 14.85 meters-Foul-14.90-14.94-Foul-14.94. Of her six jumps, three would have given her the gold medal over Thea Lafond, the Paris 2024 champion, and Yulimar Rojas, the best triple jumper of all time.
The last two Olympic champions were no match for Leyanis, who looked calm, at peace, and enjoying herself — exactly what she was unable to do in Paris due to the enormous expectations and abusive pressure generated by the media and Cuban sports authorities around her. Now, much more relaxed, she unleashed all her power in the race and perfectly executed the classic hop-step-jump to land further in the sand than anyone else.
The tension, however, lasted until the last second. Thea Lafond, a fierce competitor, saved her best jump for the final round, landing the spikes in 14.89. Her jump took the breath away from Leyanis and all the Cubans watching the competition live.
Meanwhile, caution had to be exercised with Yulimar, who was returning to the big stage after her Achilles tendon injury in April 2024. That aside, she is always a threat, as she demonstrated in the finals of the last World Championships in Budapest, where she won on her last attempt with a leap of 15.08. Now, however, the lack of rhythm was noticeable after many months without competing (her best mark was 14.76), and she wasn’t able to upset Leyanis, who exploded at the close of the action.
A shout of fury, leaps and a run with the Cuban flag marked the beginning of the celebrations, which were enjoyed from the stands by her coach, Ricardo Ponce, as well as Yoandry Betanzos, Yoelbi Quesada and Iván Pedroso, some of the best Cuban jumpers in history.
The celebrations continued with the symbolic gold medal on Leyanis’s chest and the honorary photo with Yulimar and Lafond. Another Cuban jumper, Liadagmis Povea, also from Pinar del Río, could easily have been in that picture. She achieved four high-level jumps (14.67-14.62-14.72-14.66) and was just short of the podium, just like at the Paris Games.
Leyanis thus becomes the second world champion in triple jump, the most fetich test in Cuban athletics. Previously, only Yargelis Savigne had achieved this feat in Osaka 2007 and Berlin 2009. Indeed, Savigne was the only Cuban triple jumper with consecutive podium finishes (she had three, including her silver at Helsinki 2005) at world events, something Pérez has now achieved, having won bronze at Budapest 2023.
This triumph also confirms the global supremacy of Central America and the Caribbean in the women’s triple jump. Of the last 11 global editions, ten have resulted in titles for the region: one for Jamaica’s Trecia Smith, two for Savigne, two for Colombia’s Caterine Ibargüen, four for Yulimar and one for Leyanis. The only one who managed to break this dominance was Ukrainian Olha Saladukha.
And speaking of dynasties, the last time a triple jumper jumped more than Yulimar Rojas in a competition was on August 29, 2019, more than six years ago. Now Leyanis Pérez, who at the time hadn’t even reached junior age, has achieved the feat and will forever be remembered as the woman who ended the Venezuelan’s streak of World Championship titles. That’s no small feat.
