Cuba shines at athletics meeting with three gold medals and a record

Cuba had a remarkable performance at the Troyes-Aube International Athletics Meet in France, securing three gold medals, one of them a record, as part of its preparatory tour for the World Championships in September in Tokyo.

The star of Sunday's event was Lisyanet Ruiz, who won the 100-meter hurdles with a 12.81 seconds time, a record for the event, thus improved the 12.97 seconds held by Italian Giada Carmassi since 2024 and shaved one hundredth of a second off her personal best of 12.82, achieved in May during a national event.

In the same meeting, Greisys Robles confirmed her consistency with a time of 12.92 seconds, securing second place—the ninth time this season that the Cuban hurdler has dipped under 13 seconds.

The bronze medal went to Italy's Eliza Maria Di Lazzaro (12.98).

Another outstanding moment was that of sprinter Reynaldo Espinosa, who won the 100-meter dash in 9.95 seconds, although it cannot be recognized as a personal best due to a tailwind exceeding the permitted limit (+2.3 m/s)
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His best legal time remains 9.96, achieved in Salamanca in 2024. He is now joined on the podium by Dominican Franquelo Perez (10.10) and Colombian Abello Neiker (10.12).

Roxana Gomez dominated the 400 meters, clocking 50.98 seconds, very close to the 50.67 seconds that gave her gold a few days earlier at the Barrientos Memorial, while Burundi's Sita Sibiri (52.21) and France's Diana Iscaye (52.89) completed the top three.

In the two laps of the oval, Dayli Cooper once again shined with 2:00.21 minutes, her best time of the year, to take the silver medal, surpassed only Australia's Bendere Oboya (2:00.16) and Britain's Revee Walcott-Nolan (2:00.24) in third.

With this result, Cooper continues showing solid progress ahead of the global event.

Cuban delegation will continue its competitive journey on June 26 at the Malaga International Meeting in Spain, with the participation of several of its leading athletes, including long jumper Maykel Masso, who is returning to the international stage after an injury in 2023.