Paulino, Ruiz and Figueroa shine at Central American and Caribbean Games | REPORT

Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino accomplished a double within the 400m and combined relay whereas Flor Denis Ruiz improved her South American file and Jose Figueroa rewrote the file books on the primary 4 days of competitors on the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo.

On the opening day on the stadium, Paulino overcame a large deficit with the main Puerto Rican workforce to convey house the primary gold to the host nation within the combined 4x400m relay. Her anchor leg of 48.51 led the workforce to defend their title in 3:10.57, greater than 4 seconds quicker than their profitable time on the 2023 Games.

Erick Sánchez, Anabel Medina and Christopher Melenciano accomplished the quartet for the Dominican Republic.

Two days later, Paulino returned to the Felix Sanchez stadium and efficiently defended her 400m title in 48.94, a 1.01-second enchancment on her earlier Games file. She was joined on the rostrum by her coaching accomplice and world finalist Roxana Gomez of Cuba (49.95) and Olympic 800m finalist Shafiqua Maloney of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (51.77).

Gabriel Moronta sealed the Dominican double within the one-lap race with the lads’s title in 44.70, forward of Mexico’s Luis Aviles (45.06) and Venezuela’s Javier Gomez (45.07). The trio denied a medal to Grenada’s triple Olympic medallist Kirani James, the area’s most profitable 400m runner ever.

Colombia’s 2023 world silver medallist Flor Denis Ruiz threw an enormous 67.34m to retain her javelin title. The 35-year-old broke her personal South American file and strikes to second on this 12 months’s world record. It was her third victory on the CAC Games, having received her first title again in 2014.

Following his spectacular opening leg within the combined relay for Puerto Rico, Jose Figueroa continued his greatest season ever as he smashed the CAC Games 200m file within the semifinals on Wednesday with 19.76, transferring him to sixth on this 12 months’s world record. He will go for gold on Thursday (6).

Other standout performances got here within the hurdles with Colombia’s Maria Murillo and Panama’s Giana Woodruff. Murillo grew to become the third quickest South American dash hurdler with a nationwide file within the 100m hurdles (12.64), in an in depth battle with Greisys Roble of Cuba (12.68).

In her third CAC Games, Woodruff lastly secured gold for Panama within the ladies’s 400m hurdles, doing so with a Games file of 53.98. Dominican Republic’s Yeral Nunez received the lads’s race in 48.30.

Other Games file breakers had been Cuba’s Dayi Cooper in 1500m (4:07.46), Dominican Republic’s Liranyi Alonzo within the 100m (11.10), and Alvaro Abreu (1:02:48) and Mexico’s Laura Galvan (1:13:43) the half marathon.

South American record-holder Ronald Longa grew to become the primary Colombian ever to win the lads’s 100m (10.06) whereas newly minted world U20 file holder Jorge Hodelin of Cuba took the lengthy bounce title with 8.23m.

In her fifth CAC Games, Puerto Rico’s Alysbeth Felix lastly loved her first regional crown with the gold medal within the lengthy bounce (6.54m). She additionally leads the heptathlon after day one. She received bronze medals in each occasions in 2023.

World silver medallist Alegna Gonzalez and Ricardo Ortiz accomplished a Mexican double within the half marathon race stroll.

The world’s oldest regional multisport occasion, the CAC Games, had been inaugurated in 1926 and have fun their centennial version in Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic beforehand hosted the Games in 1974 and 1986.

The athletics competitors will finish on 8 August.

Javier Clavelo Robinson for World Athletics