This might well be the Cuban year for the men’s high hurdles. At last month's Olympic Games in Sydney, Anier Garcia defeated his American rivals to become Olympic champion and the sixth fastest man in the world.
Garcia himself competed in the World Junior championships in Lisbon 1995 when he finished fifth in the final with a time of 14.05.
Santiago could now be the right place for another Cuban hurdler to stand on the highest step of the podium.
Yuniel Hernandez clocked an excellent 13.78 into a 1.8m/s head wind and bettered his personal best by 0.08 seconds. By winning his semi final ahead of the world junior best performer this year, Philip Nossmy of Sweden, Hernandez has placed himself as one of the favourites for the 110m hurdles gold medal. His smooth technique and fabulous sprint qualities are the fruit of an excellent Cuban school that has produced numerous talents over the years.
Cuba has a great tradition in the high hurdles at the World Junior Championships: Reinaldo Quintero won the second edition of the championships in Sudbury 1988 and Yoel Garcia clocked 13.83 in Sydney in 1996 to grab the world junior title. Two other Cuban athletes have reached a world junior championships’ podium, with Emilio Valle winning bronze in Athens 1986 and Alexis Sanchez taking silver in Plovdiv 1990.
The national junior record that Hernandez is aiming at still belongs to Alejandro Cardenas, who clocked 13.52 back in 1972.
"I am part of the training centre of La Havana," said Hernandez after his semi-final here in Santiago, "but I plan to train with my older and more famous compatriots."
Hernandez will have to keep an eye on China’s Liu Xiang who stopped the clock at a new national junior record time of 13.75 when winning his semi-final. Liu Xiang just edged the world youth champion Ladji Doucoure who also bettered his own national junior record in 13.75.
"I made a lot of mistakes and we had a headwind today. And still I set my personal best!" Doucoure said after a race that was less than perfect technically speaking.
Doucoure and Liu are both 17 years old and will have to prove they have the mental strength to handle the pressure of being the pre-race favourites.
The more experienced Nossmy, who still has the fastest junior time this year, will get in the blocks tomorrow with the motivation to do as well as his compatriot Susanne Kallur who won gold in the women’s 100m hurdles in a new championships and national junior record.
The 110m hurdles final tomorrow will also have two British athletes Chris Baillie and Robert Newton. The championship record still belong to world record holder Colin Jackson who clocked 13.44 to win the inaugural edition of the world junior championships back in Athens in 1986.
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF
