Cuban athletes Yarisleidis Cirilo and Yinnolis Franchesca López advanced this Thursday to the semifinals of the C2-500 meters at the Canoe Sprint World Cup held in Brandenburg, Germany, after finishing sixth in the second heat.

The Caribbean duo recorded a time of 2:12.24 minutes in a series dominated by Anhelina Bardanouskaya and Maryia Papichych, Russian athletes competing under neutral status, who led the race with a mark of 2:03.39.

This result sustains the Cuban pair within the international elite, following their recent achievements in Szeged, Hungary. Cirilo and López will also seek to advance this Thursday in the C2-200 meters, a distance in which they “conquered the gold in the aforementioned first stop of this 2026, with a time of 41.53 seconds.”

The Cubans arrive with strong credentials, as Cirilo recently secured “silver in the C1-200 meters in Szeged.”

The Brandenburg event brings together more than 850 athletes from 60 countries in sprint and paracanoe events, providing key points for the international ranking and “Olympic qualification toward Los Angeles 2028.”