Cuba has a last bullet in the Tokyo Athletics World Cup, where this Sunday Matanzo Mario Díaz will compete in the final of the disc launch after registering 65.66 meters in the Qualifiers, a valid brand to sneak among the 12 best of the orb appointment.
Díaz, who has a personal stop of 67.44 achieved this year in Luxembourg, was stable with a sequence of 63.66-63.43-65.66 and was seventh among the 37 candidates in contest.
The Yumurino did not reach the minimum direct classification record (66.50), a brand to which only four competitors arrived: the Swedish Daniel Ståhl (69.90), the Slovenian Kristjan čEH (68.08), the Lithuanian Martynas Alekna (67.16) and the Australian Matthew Denny (66.63).
The Cuban representative surpassed the world recordist, the Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna, who remained at 65.39. In this way, Díaz advanced to the first world final of his career in three incursions in these events.
In Oregon 2022, the Matancero could not overcome the qualifiers with a sequence of 57.72-58.35-60.83, far from the 64.14 that marked the closure of the classification. In Budapest 2023 his performance did not improve and ended up 33 among 35 participants, with discreet record of 58.03.
This season, at 25, has achieved sustained performance over the 65 meters that has now allowed him to rub and the elite of the test. The final obviously will be a harder challenge, but represents a new opportunity to improve its records and approach relevant positions.
The last Cubans in a world final of the album were Jorge Fernández and Frank Casañas (this as representative of Spain) at the Moscow event 2013. In Luzhniki Stadium of the Russian capital, Casañas ended up in the ninth position with a record of 62.89, while Fernández concluded tenth with 62.88.
The male album, historical test for Cuba
Although many no longer remember, the male album was the first specialty in which Cuba won a medal in world championships. The protagonist of the story was Luis Mariano Delís in the quote of Helsinki 1983, where he conquered the 67.36 shooting subtitle, slightly away from Czechoslovaco Imrich Bugár (67.72).
The Guantanamero, Olympic bronze in Moscow 1980, also rose to the podium in the World Cup in Rome 1987, when he was third with a 66.02 mark, behind the German Jürgen Schult (68.74) and the American John Powell (66.22).
Luis Mariano and Juan Martínez Brito are the only Cuban discós that have reached 70 meters, and both achieved it on May 21, 1983 in a test carried out in Havana. That day, Delís scored 71.06, national record, while his partner was right in 70.00.
Of the 50 best shots made by Cuban discós in history, 44 are held by Luis Marino Delís, without a doubt the maximum exponent of this modality on the island.
