Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarría Returns to the Long Jump Pit

January 22, 2025

Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarría appears among the long jumpers confirmed for the Moniz Pereira Indoor Athletics Meet in Portugal, which will mark his competitive return as a member of the national team in that sport.

The organizers of the meet, which will be held in the city of Pombal next Sunday, announced Echevarría's presence through their Instagram social media account.

Thus, the runner-up in the event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be the main attraction of a competition in which Spanish athlete Eusebio Cáceres will also compete, fourth place finisher at that event and medalist in other international competitions.

Juan Miguel will now assume his first official competition on Portuguese soil since his performance under the five rings in the Japanese capital, with which he closed a cycle marked by podium finishes in outdoor and indoor world competitions, as well as the title at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

With a personal record of 8.68 meters—although he reached 8.82 with a favorable wind exceeding the allowed limit—the athlete from Camagüey requested his release from the national team in 2022.

Two years later he decided to return to represent Cuba under the direction of the once stellar Iván Pedroso, a position he maintains, according to JIT's confirmation with the Cuban athletics federation.

That announcement was made months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, an event he was unable to attend, as he failed to achieve optimal preparation in such a short time to meet the minimum qualifying mark.

His return to the long jump pit in an event with Challenger category status in the World Athletics Indoor Tour 2025 could boost his reinsertion into the elite of the event, currently dominated by Greek athlete Miltiadis Tentoglou and other figures with impressive progression, such as Italian Mattia Furlani.

Cuba will also have its leading triple jump athletes on the so-called winter tour: Leyanis Pérez, Liadagmis Povea, Lázaro Martínez and Andy Hechavarría.

They will be joined by fellow long jumpers Alejandro Parada and Hayla González, sprinter Reynaldo Espinosa and high jumper Luis Enrique Zayas.

Leyanis, Povea and Espinosa will compete on January 31 in Miramas, France, according to the schedule announced by the main athletics authorities in the country.