AREQUIPA, Peru – A new milestone for the island’s sport was marked this Friday at the World Weightlifting Championships held in the Spanish town of León, where Marifélix Sarría (+87 kg) became the first Cuban to obtain a title in that fight
A report from the state media Cubadebate indicates that Sarría was the only representative of Cuba in the competition that closed this September 27.
The weightlifter achieved a total weight of 270 kg, an unprecedented mark for her career in official tournaments and which profiles her as one of the main prospects on the Island for the new Olympic cycle.
The Cuban also managed the best records in terms of snatch, with 115 kg, and in clean and jerk, with 155 kg. Those performances also brought him two gold medals.
Etta Mae Love, a Canadian with a total of 254 kg and a bronze medal, also stood out on the competition podium, as well as the Brazilian Taiane Justino de Lima, with a total of 251 kg and a bronze medal.
“In this way, America took the entire podium in the division, in a demonstration of continental power in the category,” highlights journalist Yunier Javier Sifonte in the official report.
The president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), Osvaldo C. Vento Montiller, congratulated the Cienfuegos athlete via X (formerly Twitter).
“A hug, Marifelix. Award for perseverance and the will to win, sustained even in difficult moments, convinced of your attachment to fair play. Congratulations to the technicians, to your family and to that of that sport,” the manager wrote.
After concluding a period away from weight training due to alleged doping in the past games Central American and Caribbean, Marifélix Sarría joined training just three months ago.
The athlete successfully carried out an appeal process and the panel of specialists from Centro Caribe Sports and the World Anti-Doping Agency ruled her innocence, dismissing the suspensions against her.
