Louis Tristán, one of the most promising names of Peruvian athletics made his debut at the 2007 season with an impressive mark of 8.09m (1.1 m/s wind) in the Long Jump at the “1º Festival de Velocidade e Saltos” that the Paulista Federation hosted at the track of the “Estádio Ícaro Castro de Melo” in São Paulo on 28 February.
With the performance, the 22-year-old from Lima equaled his own national record which was obtained while placing second at the 2006 South American Championships in Tunja, Colombia (1 October; 1.5 m/s wind) at 2500m of altitude.
His previous best at “sea level” was an 8.02m performance (1.8 m/s wind) also registered at São Paulo (São Paulo is located at an elevation 725m) on 22 September, while second at the 2006 Troféu Brasil.
Tristán is entering his third season of training at the IAAF High Performance Training Centre in São Paulo, alongside with Panamanian Irving Saladino, the number 1 at the IAAF World Rankings in the event, and also under the guidance of Coach Nélio Moura.
In 2006 Tristán had bettered the Peruvian record 3 times (7.90, 8.02 and 8.09), while improving from his previous pb of 7.79m obtained in 2003.
Brazilians Rodrigo Araújo and Thiago Dias finished second and third with 7.93m and 7.91m marks, both wind aided by a breeze over 2 m/s (3.3 and 2.4 respectively).
11.48 by Lucimar Moura
Another remarkable performance was the one obtained by 32-year-old Brazilian sprinter Lucimar de Moura, who won the main heat of the women’s 100m in 11.48 (wind -0.3 m/s). Her coach, former sprinter Katuhiko Nakaia was pleased: “It’s a great performance to begin a season”.
Moura, the South American record holder at 100 and 200m (11.17 and 22.60) won over Rosemar Coelho Neto (11.62) and Tathiana Ignácio (11.71).
Other good marks were those obtained by Éder Antônio de Souza, a 13.66 pb at 110mh (wind 1.2 m/s), Josiane Tito, 52.37 at 400m, and Laurice Félix, a 6.53m pb (wind 1.3 m/s) at LJ.
Previously, on another meet in São Paulo on 24 February, Brazilian HJ record holder Jessé de Lima reached 2.24m. De Lima jumped 2.30m in 2006.
South American upcoming calendar
South American athletics will witness this weekend the beginning of its 2007 area GP. The first events will be in Santa Fe, Argentina (3 and 4 March), Rosario (8 March), Mar del Plata (10, 11 March) and Buenos Aires (14, 15 March).
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
