Second place for Cuban triple jumper Lazaro Martinez at L'Eure meeting

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 29 (ACN) Cuban triple jumper Lazaro Martinez, last year's world runner-up in Budapest, placed second today at the L'Eure athletics meeting in Val-de-Reuil, France, a silver category event of the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

Martinez jumped 16.81 meters (m) in the triple jump final, won by Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso, the world champion in the Hungarian capital.

Zango dominated the event from his first attempt with a mark of 17.15 m, which was enough to take the victory; while in third place was Yasser Mohammed Triki (16.66 m), from Algeria, according to the official website of the French Athletics Federation.

Also representing Cuba, Cristian Napoles (16.30 m) finished in fourth place, in what was the debut in the indoor winter tour of the current year for both athletes from the island.

The two triple jumpers had a successful 2023 in which they climbed the awards podium at the 19th World Indoor Championships held in Budapest last August, where Martinez and Napoles won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Martinez, universal indoor champion in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2022, finished second in that strong event with 17.41 m; while his teammate came in third with a personal best of 17.40 m, just one centimeter short.

Until the fifth round, both athletes from the Caribbean nation were 1-2 in the final of the triple jump, but Zango reached 17.64 m to win the golden metal.

Both jumpers will have their second competition on February 6 at the Orlen Copernicus Cup, to be held in Torun, Poland.