Cuban high jumper Luis Zayas with discreet performance in Udine

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb. 7 - Cuban athlete Luis Enrique Zayas failed to shine in his debut in the indoor athletics season, finishing in a discreet seventh place in the High Jump Meeting in Udine, held on Thursday in Italy.

Zayas, who had dominated the two previous editions of the event, was not able to revalidate his title or reach the podium, as he did in 2022, when he took third place.

He registered his best jump of 2.12 meters, an insufficient mark to compete for the first places.

Cuban started his participation with the rod at 2.06 meters, after giving up attempts at 1.90 and 1.98, he cleared 2.12 meters without difficulties, but failed in his first attempt at 2.18 and failed to clear 2.22 meters in two subsequent opportunities.

The digital newspaper Jit noted that Zayas' performance seems to be affected by the injuries that affected him during last season, which prevented him from qualifying among the 12 finalists for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

On this occasion, Bulgaria's Tihomir Ivanov took the victory with a jump of 2.25 meters, followed by local Matteo Sioli, from the under-23 category, who equaled the mark but took second place; Israel's Yonathan Kapitolnik completed the podium with 2.22 meters.