Cuban Jumper Lazaro Martinez Secures World Indoor Title with Stunning Performance
In a remarkable display of talent and determination, Cuban triple jumper Lazaro Martinez emerged victorious at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, despite having never competed indoors prior to the last five weeks.
The 24-year-old Martinez, a former world U18 and U20 champion, was not considered the pre-event favorite, with Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo and defending world indoor titleholder Will Claye expected to be the main challengers. However, Martinez proved to be too strong on the day, as his opening-round leap of 17.64m stood as the best mark of the competition.
“I’m very happy – 17.64m is a great jump, and it’s also my first major indoor medal,” said an elated Martinez. “I trained very hard for this; everything was different this year. My training back home went very well, and I felt very confident coming here.”
Pichardo and Claye both raised their game, with the Portuguese jumper recording 17.46m and the American reaching 17.19m, but they were unable to surpass Martinez’s impressive opening effort. USA’s Donald Scott clinched the bronze medal with a season’s best of 17.21m.
The victory marks a significant milestone for the Cuban, who now joins an exclusive club of just 19 athletes to have won individual world titles at the U18, U20, and senior levels. He is also the first Cuban athlete to achieve this feat.
With his winning jump, Martinez moves to 16th on the world indoor all-time list, tied with outdoor world record-holder Jonathan Edwards, and surpassing multiple world and Olympic champion Christian Taylor, as well as his own coach, Yoelbi Quesada, the 1997 world champion.
🔗 Source
