SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- Cuban triple jumper Lázaro Martínez qualified this Friday for the final of the 2024 Diamond League, which will take place between September 13 and 14 in Brussels.
In Rome, during the thirteenth stop of the League, he added four points and obtained a total of 18, to rank second in the ranking, headed by Burkinabe Hugues Fabrice Zango, who has 20 points in total.
Martinez opened with a jump of 16.69 meters, followed by three failed attempts. In the fifth round he had a jump of 16.31.
He Cuban Andy Díaz, who is competing for Italy, also competed in the triple jump event on Friday and won the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, with his jump of 17.32 meters, the longest of the day.
However, although they did manage to get eight points, they only made it to that stop in the league circuit and the total is not enough for the final in Brussels.
Second place in the Italian capital went to Max Hess of Germany with 17.01, and third place to Almir dos Santos of Brazil with 16.89. Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso was fourth with 16.87.
In the overall standings, Martínez is followed by Pedro Pablo Pichardo, a Cuban under the flag of Portugal. With 15 points in total, Pichardo secured his place in the final.
In his first foray into the Diamond League this season, in Marrakech, Martínez took first place thanks to a jump of 17.10 meters, his best mark of the year. This performance consolidated him as one of the favorites for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
At the Olympics, Lázaro Martínez was the only Cuban to represent the Caribbean island in the triple jump, but he scored 17.34 and finished in eighth place.
Jordan Díaz, Pedro Pablo Pichardo and Andy Díaz displaced the world champion named in Budapest 2023, Burkinabe Hugues Zango (who jumped 17.50 this Friday) and filled the podium.
