For Juan Miguel Echevarría (La Guernica, 1998) all roads do not lead to Rome. Right now, in his mind, he only visualizes the route to Tokyo and tries to establish a rare connection between the past and present with the Japanese capital. There, in 2021, he was about to become an Olympic champion in length of length, but the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou lowered him from the pedestal in the last jump. Also there, in less than a month, the Camagüeano wants to adjust the pending accounts in the Athletics World Cup.
“It hurt me to lose in Tokyo,” confesses Juan Miguel, who still spins the clear memories of that August 2. “I arrived almost without training for several months and I had to make a big effort to achieve a brand that would allow me to fight for the podium. I did my best, but I had many inconvenience.
“It hurt that they would take away that effort and the title, so now you have to go to that World Cup and fight on the ground again,” says the Agramontino with a somewhat challenging attitude that, perhaps, nobody expected to see again after the jumper spent more than 1200 days without competing in any place.
The Tokyo games were their last staging. Then, his name disappeared, until last year he began working with Iván Pedroso, avant -garde coach and myth of the long jump globally. But not even all the “Saltamontes” credentials were enough for fans to trust a new explosion of Juan Miguel.
Present
Although the afternoon falls on the source of the girl’s fountain, in Guadalajara, the temperature does not loosen. The Spanish summer and the heat wave do not give truce, but a good part of the cream and cream of the jump worldwide have decided to challenge the almost 40 degrees to see the competitions of the international meeting Meliz Sport.
Yulimar Rojas, Jordan Díaz, Iván Pedroso, Luis Felipe Meliz, Alexis Copello, Yoelbis Quesada, Liadagmis Povea and Leyanis Pérez are sitting on the stands or on the edge of the track, closely following the incidents of the event. It is August 14 and there are just 30 days to listen to the starting gun from the Tokyo World Cup.
The majority focuses on their looks in male length, where two medalists face the five hoops (Echevarría and Maykel Massó), a world and Olympic finalist (Eusebio Cáceres) and bronze in the European under the ceiling of 2025 (Lester Lescay). The starting list excites, although later no one manages to fly fully to a brand of consideration and, to top it off, Juan Miguel is injured after the first jump.
The Camagüeano takes his hands to the knee, makes gestures of pain while limbing the track and talks with Pedroso, his advisor. His face does not give a good thorn, but a while later, when the load has lowered a little, he tells us that it does not seem to be serious: “They are things that happen, I recover. Because of the feelings I have right now it is most likely that next week I will be fine.”
His reassuring message comes with a statement of intentions: “Today I could have jumped between 8.50 and 8.60. It could be the day, because I had good feelings, but unfortunately the discomfort forced me to get out of the competition. In the World Cup I would like to close the season with brands of that type.”
Past
Perhaps the words of Juan Miguel Echevarría regarding brands may seem pretentious, especially if we consider that in 2025 no one has reached 8.50 in length. The best mark of the season (8.46) is held by the Greek Tentoglou, his executioner of Tokyo, the only one that has passed over 8.40. Behind a squad of 11 Saltadores that has reached at least 8.25, while the Camagüeano limit has remained in 8.24.
However, Echevarría has found some stability, with six competitions in which he exceeded the eight meter barrier. When we ask him about this detail, his eyes shine and his face lights up.
“Jump more than eight meters after four year? ¡Excellent! ”He exclaims almost without finding too many words to describe what his return to high competition means.“ It cost me a lot of work to return. I was very weight, he had been doing absolutely anything for four years. Not that I was training out there. I was like any retired athlete, and I felt good because I did nothing. ”
In those circumstances, many thought that his sports career was inevitably buried, but Juan Miguel kept hopes: “I never lost the faith, I lost my desires. I did not feel like doing anything. When one discourages, he loses his wishes and, in a certain way, the love for what he does; at that point it is difficult to move afloat.
“In the end I went well from that bump, with the fundamental help of my wife. She propelled me to continue, to get ahead. It has always told me that I can and here we are. Besides, I reiterate you, faith I never lost it because I know what I give, I know what I am capable of.”
Future
Although the memory of Tokyo’s Olympic Games is a dagger, when Echevarría listens to the name of Miltiadis Tentoglou, it is not intimidated. On the contrary, the nonverbal language of Agramontino transmits a youthful youth of Cubans. “It’s a thorn that I want to get myself out. If we get well to Tokyo, we can fight,” he says convinced, as if who spoke had never left the field and track.
It definitely has the World Cup between eyebrow and eyebrow, although also looks a little further, aware that if you keep the approach and seriousness it can be a very uncomfortable rival in the coming years. “I will not stop. This has been a difficult year because I was reinstating, but in 2026 I hope to enter the weight and better strengthen all the physical planes. I told you that this season I want to jump between 8.50 and 8.60, but the next one I will fight for a little more.”
The closeness with Iván Pedroso, one of the most voracious competitors in the history of length jump, has had a lot of attitude. “It’s the best. He has always trusted me, he has given me his support, he has guided me, he is giving me his knowledge. I think we are on a good way, he is happy and satisfied with what we have achieved, but he knows that I give for more. You have to continue fighting and not lose hope; I hope that fans do not lose it either. I am not going to give up yet.”
