The athlete had a record of 59.85 meters prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
14ymedio, Havana, 2 July 2024 — Yulenmis Aguilar, the Cuban javelin thrower won a resounding victory in the Spanish Championship with a throw of 59.85 meters, which places her as the main figure for Spain in that specialty and shows that she is in “good shape for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024,” according to Swing Completo.
Aguilar began her participation this Sunday with a throw of 50.12 meters. Her rivals, Carmen Sánchez, who was in second position, recorded a throw of 51.86 meters, while Enya Carretero was in third place with 51.43 meters.
On April 10, the athlete received the “naturalization letter” in the Council of Ministers of the Moncloa Palace, a procedure that began at the end of 2022, opening the possibility for her to represent Spain at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
The double-champion (2015, 2017) Cuban javelin thrower arrived in Spain at the end of December 2020
Since Aguilar’s naturalization was confirmed, the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) contacted World Athletics – the governing body of athletics – to make the change of nationality for the athlete to be part of its delegation.
In the other four competitions of 2024, except for the Ibero-American Rally in Huelva, where she was fourth, Aguilar won the Iberdrola League of clubs twice (60.68 and 56.21) and the José Luis Hernández Memorial in Pamplona (56.52).
The double-champion (2015, 2017) Cuban javelin thrower arrived in Spain at the end of December 2020.
Since she has been in Spain, Aguilar has had her eyes set on Paris. “My room for improvement is incredible,” she told the newspaper Relevo at the beginning of this year. “I have been watching the throws with my coach and there is a possible improvement of 30%, at least.”
Aguilar was ignored by the Cuban national team in 2018. That was the “prize” she received after obtaining the bronze medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia. The authorities simply told her that “they weren’t counting on her for the next season.”
“I didn’t want to know anything about the sport. I went into a depression and began to gain a lot of weight”
The athlete’s sports life became “an ordeal” in which the injuries she had on her knees, shoulders and elbows pushed her to retire for five months. “I didn’t want to know anything about the sport. I went into a depression and began to gain a lot of weight,” she told La Voz de Galicia.
The Cuban contacted coach Raimundo Fernández, who directs the Escuela de Lanzadores de A Coruña and traveled to Spain. “Her first six months here were an ordeal of physiotherapists, doctors and rehabilitators,” Fernández stressed.
The athlete recovered and last year set a record for Spain in the javelin throw with 64.17 meters, which placed her as sixth in the world ranking of the discipline. Aguilar, 27, has been living in Galicia since 2020, where she arrived with a work permit.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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