Jessé Farias de Lima celebrates national record in Porto Alegre (© Wander Robert/CBAt)
Jessé Farias de Lima produced the highlight of the 2006 “Meeting Gaúcho Caixa de Atletismo”, which took place on Sunday, 7 May in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, as part of the South American Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old from Recife reached 2.30m, and recorded his second improvement to the Brazilian record this season. His previous national record of 2.28m had also been set in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in São Leopoldo, on 22 April.
On a very nice morning at the track of SOGIPA, Jessé jumped 2.10, 2.15, 2.18, 2.22 and 2.26, all on his first attempts. Then 2.30m in his second, to end his day with 3 misses at 2.32m. That would have been the world’s top outdoor performance of the season - Cuban Víctor Moya jumped 2.31m on 25 March.
“It was very important to obtain this mark, a record that shows that we are on the right track”, said de Lima. “I was jumping well, and the proof is in the results obtained so far this season, but I had some details to correct, especially in the approach, which I could do today. Now, I will go to the Ibero-American Championships trying to keep improving, and to fight for a place on the podium,” concluded de Lima.
Two other Brazilians, Fábio Baptista and Fabrício Romero, were second and third with 2.15m.
45.60 by Andrés Silva at 400m
Coming off a 45.32 national record set in Barquisimeto on 21 April, Uruguayan Andrés Silva had another great 400m run in Porto Alegre, to take the victory in 45.60, the third best performance of his career.
Silva’s display of superiority was great, showing that he could be below 45 seconds soon. In Porto Alegre, the 20-year-old from Tacuarembó won by more than a second ahead of the best Brazilian specialists. Fernando Almeida was second in 46.79 and Anderson Jorge dos Santos third in 46.85.
Good hurdling by Maíla Machado
Maíla Paula Machado recorded a promising time in her outdoor season’s debut, by winning the 100m Hurdles in 12.97, to dip below 13 seconds for the tenth time.
“It was a good performance for the first race of the season. I hope to run faster this season, and improve next week in Rio,” declared Machado.
Behind the 25-year-old Brazilian was Chilean Francisca Guzmán, who clocked 13.41, which is her personal best at sea-level, after her national record of 13.30, while Gilvaneide Parrela was third in 13.46.
Build-up to the Belem World Athletics Tour meeting
Porto Alegre was the first stop of the South American Grand Prix circuit in Brazil, and will be followed by the Rio de Janeiro GP (14 May), the Fortaleza South American GP (17 May), and the Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo in Belém (21 May) which is part of the IAAF World Tour as a Grand Prix event.
The international presence at Porto Alegre was mostly of South American athletes, and the winners of other events were all Brazilian, with the exception of Belarus Natallia Safronava (13.68/-0.4 at TJ).
Other winners were: Men: José Carlos Gomes Moreira (10.33 at 100m), Leandro Prates Oliveira (3:42.62 at 1500m), Mário dos Santos (19:48.33 at 5000mW). Women: Rosemar Coelho Neto (11.59 at 100m), Christiane Ritz dos Santos (4:27.19 at 1500m), Lilian Magalhães (1.76 at HJ), Fabiana Murer (4.30 at PV), Keila Costa (6.46/0.9 at LJ) and Cisiane Dutra Lopes (24:33.44 at 5000mW).
Relays were contested as well, and the national teams of Brazil won them all. The times were 39.10 and 44.51 at 4x100m, and 3:07.00 and 3:34.24 at 4x400m.
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
