Lescay, from Santiago, aspires to surpass his personal record of 8.35 meters and reach the level of other Cubans who have represented Spain
14ymedio, Havana, 5 July 2025 — Cuban long jumper Lester Lescay had to wait three years for the European country to grant him citizenship after leaving a Cuban delegation in Belgrade and marrying his girlfriend in Spain. “I was not given citizenship because of my sport, as has happened in other cases. The path has been different, but in the end I have managed to integrate well,” he tells OnCuba in an interview in which his determination to migrate appears as the final turning point of his career.
“I left Cuba because I didn’t want to spend my youth there,” the athlete begins saying and the phrase gives title to the interview. His youth career is not negligible: At the age of 15 he took second place in the U-18 long jump world championship, a year later he already jumped more than eight meters and at 17 was crowned champion of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. “It was very fast, I almost didn’t have time to assimilate it, I just jumped trying to make a competition better than the previous one,” he remembers.
Despite being among the best of the Cuban squad, other names stood out for accumulating better results, something that the 23-year-old santiaguero attributes to the speed with which some boys manage to improve their technique while others go at a slower pace. “We do not all go at the same pace, some explode before others. Sometimes you lose patience very quickly with the young people, but you can’t despair,” he explains. Still, he qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Lescay explained that it was right after the games in Japan that he had determined that his future wasn’t in Cuba
In an interview given to Runners World two years later and after his escape, Lescay explained that it was right after the games in Japan that he had determined that his future wasn’t in Cuba. “I decided that as soon as there was a trip, I would leave the Island,” he said. The poor state of Cuban sport and the story of his aunt, Mabel Gay Tamayo – world runner-up in triple jump at Berlin 2009 and bronze at the Indoor World Cup in Istanbul 2012 – helped him decide. “She was a good athlete, and I saw that almost immediately after she finished she was nothing,” he added about Tamayo, who reached 14.67 meters.
Integrating into the Spanish sport has not been easy for Lescay. Initially, OnCuba claims, “he wasn’t seen as a potential addition to their national team,” and the fact that they did not grant him citizenship because he is an athlete proves it. It wasn’t until last January that, with his red passport in hand, Lescay was endorsed by the World Athletics to enter the professional sport in Spain.
However, the athlete does not complain. “I stayed with a super nice Spanish family who welcomed me as one of their own,” he says in reference to his wife’s family. He also received support from the Playas de Castellón club, of which he has been a part since he arrived in Spain. “Their help has been crucial, because when you migrate you don’t know how you’re going to live. It’s a lot of uncertainty, and they were always there for me,” he says.
Gradually, Lescay has started to add titles representing the colors yellow and red. This year he won bronze at the European indoor track held in the Netherlands. “That was my official debut with Spain, unforgettable, both for the medal and for having competed injured, almost without being able to run. I had to worm my way in to jump. The hardest thing was not being able to enjoy the event, but it is a happy memory for the result,” he estimates.
The Puma brand, which sponsors events and sports professionals, was also interested in Lescay, who recently signed a contract with them.
His first disappointment came with the European Championship by Nations, held in the Spanish capital, where he was left out of the first division
His first disappointment came with the European Championship by Nations, held in the Spanish capital, where he was left out of the first division. “It’s a pity that here in Madrid I didn’t make the leap that the fans were waiting for. It was not a good day, but not for lack of legs: I simply didn’t jump well,” he regrets, but without losing momentum: “The important thing was to bring points to the team. I’m not sad, but I know I could have done more.”
His plans are also ambitious for the upcoming competitions. “If I take care of myself, I have few limits,” he told the media, and he described his plan for the next event on his agenda. “There is the World Cup next September in Japan, where I will give everything I have. There will be no team involved: Only I will compete, and if I fail, the harm will be exclusively to me,” he explains.
However, the priority of the Cuban, who has managed to sneak into the Spanish sports scene, is to exceed his personal record of 8.35 meters, a jump he achieved in 2024 in Guadalajara with Luis Felipe Méliz, another Cuban exponent of the sport who is currently his coach. When he left Belgrade in 2022, his maximum was 8.28 meters outdoors.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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