Juan Miguel Echevarría

Juan Miguel began his training at the Sports Initiation School of Camaguey. He currently measures 1.84 m and weighs around 78 kg.

From a young age he demonstrates his qualities of speed and jumping ability that are promptly detected by his teachers in primary education. The Cuban long jumper Juan Miguel Echeverría, with his jump of 8.46 meters, not only conquered the indoor world title at the event held in Birmingham, England, 2018, but with that leap, the young Cuban athlete, places himself behind the mythical Carl Lewis, with the second best jump in history, in indoor facilities, without having yet reached 20 years old.

The sports career of the young man from Camagüey began in 2013, when he achieved a jump of 6.36, the following year he surpasses the 7.00 meter barrier, with a jump of 7.47, but in 2015 he jumps for the first time over 8.00 meters, with 8.05, with 7.98 in the following season, to close the past year with the aforementioned, 8.28 meters.

In outdoor competitions, his best jump had been an 8.28, achieved in 2017 in Madrid, Spain, when he was still a junior, with this jump Juan Miguel, placed himself among the top in the world in the junior category, where fellow Cuban Maikel Massó, occupied a privileged place, with the 8.33 he achieved in that same Spanish city; Echevarría tied in the yard with the capitalino Luis Alberto Bueno.

Best Result Achieved
In 2018 he achieved his jump of 8.46 meters, at 19 years, 7 months and 21 days, while American Carl Lewis (Birmingham, Alabama, July 1, 1961), jumped 8.49 in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 20, 1981, at 19 years, 7 months and 19 days. Lewis jumped that same season indoors, 8.48, in Detroit, on March 13 and 8.25, in Baton Rouge, on June 5. The other jumper who continues on the list, is Ukrainian Vladimir Ochkan (01/13/1968), with 8.32, in Vilnius, on January 9, 1988, just four days before reaching 20 years old. The man from Camagüey, who performed in Birmingham a formidable sequence of jumps (8.19/8.28/x/8.36/8.46/7.86) to conquer the world title, had already previously shown his potential, with 8.34 in Metz, requiring South African Luvo Manyonga, a jump of 8.40 to be able to prevail, but Juan Miguel got his revenge at the right moment in excellent demonstration.

Echevarría sets the outdoor seasonal world record in 2018. The prodigal son of Camagüey, surprised the world with a legendary 8.46 in Birmingham, leaving rivals of such caliber as South African Luvo Manyonga and American Marquis Dendy astounded, he came back to demonstrate, now before his own public, his tremendous progression in this discipline by stretching to 8.40 meters during the Final Competition First Macrocycle that takes place in agramontino territory. That result shattered his previous personal outdoor record, set at 8.28 meters, and constituted the best jump on the planet so far this season, equally outdoors, surpassing the 8.24 meters by Ruswalh Samaai achieved in Pretoria on March 8.

"I feel very happy with the way I am progressing. This is my best outdoor record and it makes me happy to do it here in my land where I came to put on a great show. This year I had great work in competitive thinking that has helped me control my anxiety, which is why better records are coming."

After committing a foul on the first attempt, Echevarría anchored his spikes at 8.18 meters, which would have been enough for him to win the competition ahead of his teammates Lester Lescay (7.83) and José Despaigne (7.62), however the young man showed himself full of ambition, knowing that he was having an excellent day that could give an unforgettable day to his own supporters.

He gave up his third opportunity, and came back with another miss on the fourth, an attempt that if it had been valid could have been over 8.50. Although his trainer Daniel Osorio only demanded from him a mark in the range of 8.10 and 8.20, Juan Miguel continued putting stamina into his takeoff run to register 8.40 during the fifth round.

With this new mark, Echevarría, continued demonstrating why he has become the great revelation of Caribbean athletics today with his second result, only this month, over 8.40 meters. The young man from Camagüey seems to be stabilizing among the marks of maximum world level, presaging a prodigious future ahead and surely awakening more than one concern in North America and south of the African continent.

On June 10, 2018 he shined in the sixth stop of the Diamond League athletics in Stockholm, Sweden, where he conquered the gold medal with 8.83 meters, although with a favorable wind.

Gold medalist at the Indoor World Championship in Birmingham, Great Britain, in March 2018, he achieved with that mark one of the best jumps in history, but with a wind speed of 2.1 meters per second, barely 0.1 m/s above what is permissible by the International Federation of that sport.

Juan Miguel Echevarría, by his somatotypic conditions augurs to be a phenomenal long jumper, thanks to his height and length of his lower extremities, since with his 1.84, he surpasses the Cuban average (1.79) and is in the orbit of the world's best, his weight around 70 kilograms, is also an index that brings him closer to the elite (78 kg). Nothing, we are in the presence of an excellent jumper, who knows how to show himself very competitive at the ideal moment. His immediate goals are to be Central American Champion this 2018, and in the future to be Panamerican and World Outdoor Champion as well as Olympic Champion for Rome 2020.