Historic silver medal for Cuban Yarisleidis Cirilo and Katherin Nuevo at the World Canoeing Championship

September 19, 2021

THE CUBAN Olympic duo of Yarisleidis Cirilo and Katherin Nuevo won a silver medal today in the C2-200 meters to continue making history at the World Sprint Canoeing Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark, which concludes this Sunday.

The Cuban women clocked 43.89 seconds in competition against the gold-winning Spanish pair Patricia Coco and María Corbera (43.88).

It was one of the most emotional finishes of the championship, in which the Caribbean athletes lost in a photo finish by one hundredth of a second to the Iberian rivals.

Cirilo and Katherin, who already had a bronze medal in the C2-500, represent the most prominent part of the Cuban delegation of five athletes competing in an event with more than 700 competitors from 56 nations. They inaugurated Cuba's medal count in this category in the history of world canoeing championships.

Yarisleidis also competed this Sunday for medals in the C1-200, a race in which she finished ninth with a time of 48.85 seconds. Canadian Katie Vincent took gold with a time of 46.52.

In the C1-500 medal competition, José Ramón Pelier finished in last place (1:50.57) among nine competitors. Germany's Conrad Scheibner led with a time of 1:46.55.

Cuba has, in addition to the two medals won by the women in the C2, the bronze medal from Olympic champions Serguey Torres and Fernando Dayán Jorge in the C2-1000.

Cuba is also entered in the C1-5000, which will take place today with Cirilo and Pelier competing in each category.

With these results Cuba ranks among the top 20 medal-winning countries in the tournament, led by Ukraine with 3-1-0.