Juan Miguel Echevarría triumphs again in the Diamond League

July 6, 2019

One day after Yarisley Silva's fourth place finish in the pole vault, long jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría and triple jumper Liadagmis Povea took to the Lausanne stadium to represent Cuba at the eighth stop of the Diamond League. Both had outstanding performances and finished in first and third place in their respective events.

Although he was imprecise on more than one occasion — he had two no jumps and in his last attempts barely marked 2.26m and 5.30 — Juan Miguel managed to take first place with a mark of 8.32m, just two centimeters short of his best mark of the year. His other quality jump was the 8.11m from the third attempt.

"I'm happy with my victory tonight, but not with the result and with my jumps. I had quite a few problems with my running technique today. I'm not sure why, probably I was a bit tired," said the Caribbean athlete in response to the logical doubts from the press about his performance this Friday.

Even so, the 2018 indoor world champion left behind Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.19m) and South African Luvo Manyonga (8.13m), one of his most serious rivals heading into the world event in Doha at the end of September. Likewise, he also surpassed others of his level such as Ruswahl Samaai and Will Claye, formidable jumpers in a final.

This is Juan Miguel Echevarría's fourth consecutive success, as well as the third competition in a row with jumps above 8.30m. However, he still has not managed to show the same stability and concentration that led him to become one of the main figures in the event on the planet a year ago.