The Cuban canoeist Yarisleidis Cirilo managed this Thursday to advance directly to the dispute of the medals of the C1 modality at 200 meters, and in this way he guaranteed his presence in three finals of the Canoeing World Championship held in the city of Halifax, in Canada.
The Antillean dominated her eliminatory series with a time of 46.52 and confirmed her favorite poster in this test, by beating the Chinese Wenjun Li (46.59), sixth of Tokyo 2020and the American Nevin Harrison (46.87), current Olympic champion and 2019 world champion, considered a true phenomenon in this specialty, refers a note published on the official site Cubadebate.
Before, in the first qualifying regatta, the Canadian Katie Vincent (46.50), defending title holder and eighth Olympian, the Spanish María Corbera (46.68) and the Polish Katarzyna Szperkiewicz (47.10) guaranteed direct tickets, while the tanned Ukrainian Olympian Liudmyla Luzan, fifth now in Cirilo’s heat with 48.15, she will have to row in the semifinals.
Cirilo guarantees final A in the Halifax Canoe World Championship 2022. José Ramón Pelier went to the semifinals of the C1-1000 meters. #rafting #canoe22 #Cuba https://t.co/bYZyqyVsDi pic.twitter.com/AhzIhfvhPL
— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) August 4, 2022
The Cuban Cirilo is also assured of her presence in the final of the C2 at 500 meters along with her compatriot Katherin Nuevo, with whom she will also be in the medal discussion in the two-seater canoe at 200 meters, a test where, due to the low turnout of pairs, the organizers decided to schedule a direct final.
For his part, in C1 at 1,000 meters, José Ramón Pelier, world titleholder among those under 23 years of age and ninth place in the Olympics, came fourth in his qualifying series and will have to seek a place in the medal dispute in the semifinals.
In a test where only the leader of each regatta advanced directly, the Caribbean man set a time of 4:10.97 and came behind the Italian Carlo Tacchini (4:01.68), the experienced Czech Martin Fuksa (4:06.28) and the Pole Wiktor Glazunow (4:09.57), according to the press report.
Brazilian Olympic titleholder Isaquias Queiroz and bronzed Moldovan Serghei Tarnovschi will also compete in Friday’s semifinals. That day will also row the Olympic champion Serguey Torres and his new partner, the young Tabiani Diéguez, in the C2 at 500 meters in pursuit of getting one of the three tickets for his regatta to the final.
The Cubans come from an excellent performance in the previous World Cups, held in Poznan, Poland, and in race, in the Czech Republic, where they won several medals. The Antillean delegation now has great chances of repeating on the podium, despite the significant absence of Olympic champion Fernando Dayán Jorge, who in March he left a delegation from the Island in Mexico and then went to the United States.
After the World Cup, the five canoeists will also take part in the qualifying event for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, which will also be held in Halifax on August 11 and 12. In that contest, Cuba will also have a quartet of men and women in the kayak, according to official sources.
