The resurrection of Lázaro Martínez in Lievin, France. This is undoubtedly one of the focuses of attention in these lines, which, to be honest, could be about the new Nordic symphony by the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who once again left notes in C major under his skewers, becoming the first man to lower the 3:31 minutes in the 1,500 meters on the indoor track, with galácticos 3:30.60.
Lievin, a remarkable venue for the indoor winter field and track, to the point of being a gold category in the World Athletics indoor circuit, housed a true constellation of stars. But like mine first, it’s time to analyze Martínez’s reunion with the triple elite, patented with 17.21 meters that incidentally catapulted him to the top of the annual indoor list.
Videos: Courtesy of colleague Raúl Rodríguez of Radio Habana Cuba.
In fact, the man from Guantanamo, born on November 3, 1997, patented two other records of 16.97 and 16.82 meters that would have also earned him the victory, as part of a sequence in which he committed a foul on the fourth attempt, and gave up the fifth and sixth. Distant behind him were the German Max Hess (16.76) and the Finnish Simo Lipsanen (16.59).
And why do we say resurrection: very simple. It so happens that the double junior world champion of 2014 and 2016, since the 2018 campaign in which he recorded his personal best of 17.28 meters outdoors, had not been able to embrace the stability of records above 17 meters. Dissimilar causes weighed down what promised to be a dazzling career: injuries, issues related to his discipline in the national team…
But today it’s time to dedicate a verse to him, because he has well deserved praise for his performance, which in addition to being a personal ceiling indoors, consolidates him as the main letter in a specialty that tries to recompose itself after leaving for various reasons of which until recently they were considered its three main figures. Now, together with Lázaro, he seems to take off strongly Andy Echevarría, owner of a fresh 17.09 here in the Pan-American Stadium.
Lázaro, who stands out for a first moment in his jump structure, the so-called extremely powerful jump, in that four-year interval of which we were talking, materialized, after a 2019 without official competitions, 17.08 meters here in Havana in 2020, and 16.90 last year, when at one stage he was even immersed in internal elimination to be able to attend the Tokyo Olympics.
His potentialities were always there, only somewhat numb. Suffice it to note that he has the second best jump of all time for under 18s with 17.24 meters on the lookout for the Spanish nationalized Cuban Jordan Díaz (14.41); in addition to the ninth position among the best under 20-year-olds in history, the latter relationship also commanded by Díaz (17.49), and in which there are also seven children of the Greater Antilles among the ten best; at the rate of Pedro Pérez Dueñas and Ernesto Revé (17.40), Arnie David Girat (17.31), Cristian Napoles (17.27), and Yoelbi Quesada (17.23). What a tradition of triplets ours!!!!
Cuba was also represented in Lievin by the London 2012 Olympic runner-up, pole vaulter Yarisley Silva, who finished sixth on this occasion with 4.55. Yarisley, who had flown over the rod at 4.65 just three days ago, tried 4.70 this time, but it ultimately eluded her.
The highest honors of the test went to the Russian extraclass Anzhelika Sidorova (4.85) and the leading record of the campaign; who was escorted by the Belarusian Iryna Zhuk (personal best and record of her country of 4.80); and the American Kattie Nageotte with the same record.
Another who maintained his sweet status was the Italian Marcel Jacobs in the 60-meter dash, now with a respectable 6.50 seconds lower than the 6.59 of the Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut, his closest pursuer. But if it is about flying low, you have to look back at the 7.35 of the American and universal leader in the 60 hurdles, Grant Holloway, who held the top record of the test in this 2022 up to 7.35.
Her skewers are still smoking, as are those of the Jamaican 1980s Natoya Goule, capable of stamping 1:58.46 minutes in the double lap around the oval that emerged as a national record and the year’s leading mark. For her part, the Ethiopian Dawit Seayum commanded the 3,000 with a time of 8: 23.24, third mark of all time; and the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas continues to surprise, now by nailing the spikes in the long jump at a distance of 6.81 meters, to win the highest awards in her debut in this modality, and place third in the annual list behind the Serbian Ivana Vuleta (6.85), and the American Tara Davis (6.84).
And so the closure surprises us, with the Norwegian middle-distance prodigy, who at just 21 years old became the first human being capable of lowering the 3:31 minute mark on this most demanding type of track, and relegating the commendable 3:31.04 from Ethiopian Samuel Tefera. By the way, Ingebrigtsen has arrived to break an undisputed hegemony of African runners in this segment. He did it under the five rings in Tokyo, and now in his first strong event of the 2022 season he pulverizes the world record on the indoor track. Imagine that he lowered his 2021 peak indoor time by more than a second, precisely stamped in Lievin and that it was 3: 31.80. What will this guy have on his legs and spikes?
Here is the link to all the results of the rally in Lievin, France, collected by World Athletics: https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7162583?…
