Cubans competing at World Athletics Relay Cup fail to qualify for Paris

HAVANA, Cuba, May 6 (ACN) The three Cuban relay teams participating at the World Athletics Relay Championship, held in the Bahamas, left without tickets to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

The women's 4x400 meters (m) relay had the highest hopes of reaching the quota, but finished third in heat two and that possibility disappeared.

Melissa Padron, Rose Mary Almanza, Lisneidy Vetia and Roxana Gomez, the last three champions three years ago in Silesia, Poland, reached the finish line with a time of 3:29:36, thus improving their record of the current season.

On Saturday, Cuba's quartet stopped the clocks in 3:31.56 min, which was their best time so far this year, although it was not enough for them to be included among the finalists.

Also on Sunday, for the Caribbean nation, the 4x100 m relay, in both sexes, were far from achieving the goal of qualifying for Paris.

Among the women, Laura Moreira, Jocelyn Echazabal, Yarima Garcia and Yunisleydis Garcia, winners of the gold medal at the Pan American Games of Santiago de Chile 2023, finished fourth in heat two with a time of 44.05 seconds (s).

Regarding men, Reinaldo Espinosa, Edel Rogelio Amores, Yaniel Carrero and Shainer Reginfo, silver medalists in the continental multisport event in Santiago de Chile, only finished seventh in the first heat with 39.39 s, a more discreet time than the 39.00 s achieved by the Cuban sprinters on Saturday.