Cuban sprinter Shainer Reginfo suffers injury that will prevent him from competing in Paris 2024

June 30, 2024

Cuban sprinter Shainer Reginfo suffered an injury this Saturday in the Spanish city of Guadalajara that will prevent him from competing in the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The news, published on the social network X by the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), confirms that the sprinter from Pinar del Río, who was qualified for the Paris competition, received medical attention for a fracture at the base of the fifth metatarsal of his right ankle.

"He was covering a morning session of strength training exercises in the gym, when the accident occurred as he was stepping down from the bench due to ankle inversion, which resulted in injury. He received immediate attention and is following medical recommendations," the official statement explains.

Following the unfortunate news, Osvaldo Vento Montiller, president of Inder, expressed solidarity with the athlete. "Stay strong, champion. May the fortitude with which you have built your career be expressed now in this other fight," he wrote on his profile on the same social network.

The 22-year-old Shainer became a national record holder in the 100 meters at the beginning of this month, when he led that event at the international meet in Salamanca with a time of 9.90 seconds.

With that record, he shattered a long-standing national mark held by Cienfuegos native Silvio Leonard (9.98) since 1977 and secured a direct ticket to Paris 2024.

In that same race, Tunas native Reinaldo Espinosa also secured a spot for his debut under the five rings, covering the distance in 9.96 seconds and finishing in second place.

Athletics followers on the Island enjoyed these performances and expectations grew regarding their presentations in the French capital, competing in a specialty in which Cuba proudly displays two silver medals.

The first was won by Enrique Figuerola at the Tokyo 1964 edition, a feat repeated by Leonard in Moscow 1980.