{"id":320190,"date":"2025-03-25T19:11:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=320190"},"modified":"2025-03-25T19:11:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:11:37","slug":"cuban-top-five-world-indoor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/sports\/athletics\/cuban-top-five-world-indoor\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba in Top 5 at World Indoor Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuba finished in eighth place at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, where triple jumpers Leyanis P\u00e9rez and Liadagmis Povea won gold and silver, respectively. The small Cuban delegation, also including L\u00e1zaro Mart\u00ednez, tied with France and New Zealand in a medal table led by the United States by a wide margin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to these three athletes, Andy D\u00edaz competed for Italy and climbed to the top of the podium with a spectacular leap of 17.80 meters in the triple jump, the best of the season in that discipline. The Havana native followed in the footsteps of Yamil\u00e9 Aldama, another Cuban jumper who won a World Indoor Championship under the flag of Great Britain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding all these crowns together, 15 Cuban athletes have won 22 titles in these competitions. The haul (20 gold medals) of those representing Cuba places our country in an all-time fifth place, behind only the United States (125), Russia (52), Ethiopia (35), and Great Britain (24).<\/span><\/p>\n

The first champion<\/b><\/p>\n

All roads lead to Rome, and when talking about Cuban athletics, a reference to <\/span>Javier Sotomayor<\/b><\/a> is usually a must. The illustrious son of Limonar paved the way for the island\u2019s golden age at the World Indoor Championships during the 1989 Budapest event, where he set a record of 2.43 meters, which still stands.<\/span><\/p>\n

His competition in the Hungarian capital was almost perfect, as he only made one mistake under 2.35 meters and cleared the rest of the heights on his first attempt. Behind him were German Dietmar M\u00f6genburg and Swede Patrik Sj\u00f6berg, both with 2.35 meters.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the first of four titles won by the \u201cPrince of Heights\u201d in world indoor events, having also won in Toronto in 1993 (2.41 meters), Barcelona in 1995 (2.38 meters), and Maebashi in 1999 (2.36 meters). He also won a silver and a bronze for a grand total of six medals, a tally that places him as the male athlete with the most medals at World Indoor Championships, tied with Bahamian runner Chris Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Javier Sotomayor: \u201cI was afraid of heights, it\u2019s true\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n