HAVANA.- Cuban long-jumper Juan Miguel Echevarria will compete today at the 57th Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, in the Czech Republic, where he will try to maintain the good results achieved in the 2018 IAAF Diamond League.

Natural of the Camagüey province, Echevarria, gold medalist at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, UK, last March, scored an astonishing 8.83 meters in Stockholm, Sweden, in the sixth stop of the Diamond League, last June 10th.

That is the fifth best jump in the history and the longest leap in the world for 23 years, but is unfortunately ineligible for record purposes due to a marginally illegal tailwind of 2.1m/s.

With that great performance on Swedish soil, he added eight points in the Diamond League and now totals 15 units in two presentations, because in his debut on May 31th, in Rome, he earned the silver medal.

In that contest, Echevarria, who is only 19, scored 8.53 meters, which is the third best record of the season, only surpassed by South African Luvo Manyonga, who has jumped 8.58m and 8.56m this year.

Precisely Manyonga, London 2017 world monarch, must again be his main rival in Ostrava, without ruling out American Jeff Henderson, Rio 2016 Olympic champion, with 8.44 meters as season best.