HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 29 (ACN) The Cuban 800 m runner Rose Mary Almanza and the high jumper Luis Enrique Zayas will be the first Cubans to debut in athletics at the Olympic Games.
Zayas, champion of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, will debut today in the qualifying group A, with a mark of 2.31 meters (m) achieved in an indoor meeting in Slovakia, last February, and has as personal record 2.33 m achieved in that same country in 2020.
For her part, Almanza will run in heat 5 of the first round, seeking to reach the semifinals.
The Cuban has had a 2021 of very good results, winning the title in the fifth stop of the Diamond League, in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 4, with a personal record and for the competition of 1:56.28 minutes.
She previously triumphed in the 8th Trofeo Diputacion de Castellon, and in the Ordizia meeting, both in Spain in June.
In addition, Almanza is in second place in the world ranking in this modality, only surpassed this year by the US Athing Mu, who leads the ranking with a time of 1:56.07 minutes.