Leyanis Pérez Hernández (born 10 January 2002) is a

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

athlete who has won medals at the World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships in the triple jump.

Early life

From

Pinar del Río Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 139,336 (2004) in a municipality of 190,332, it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños'' ...

, she has a twin sister, Lidianis, who is a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player. Leyanis joined a sports school at the age of ten years-old and trained in both the high jump and triple jump. In 2018, she focused more on the triple jump and jumped over 14 metres for the first time by leaping 14.13m in her first official competition of 2019.

Career

In 2019, she won a silver medal at the Pan American U20 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, in her first international event. Her jump of 14.15m on 21 March 2020 was the fifteenth longest jump in the world that year, and the world leading distance by a junior. She made the qualifying mark for the delayed

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in May 2021 by jumping 14.46m (wind assisted) and then 14.32m. Unfortunately, a late injury meant she traveled to Tokyo but could not compete. She did however, win gold at the Athletics at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games triple jump in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

in late 2021. She finished fourth at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

and improved her personal best by 12cm with her second-round 14.70m. She earned a silver medal at the

2023 Central American and Caribbean Games The 24th Central American and Caribbean Games are scheduled to take place in 2023. They were planned to take place in Panama City, Panama, until the government announced on 24 July 2020 that it had decided to withdraw as the hosts as a result of ...

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

in July 2023, with a personal best of 14.98m. In

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

she achieved her first victory at a

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

meeting, leaping 14.84m. She won the bronze medal at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

in Budapest in August 2023, with a jump of 14.96m. She won the gold medal at the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...

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in November 2023. She won silver at the

2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

in Glasgow with a distance of 14.90m. In May 2024, she won the

2024 Prefontaine Classic The 2024 Prefontaine Classic was the 49th edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Held on 25 May at Hayward Field, it was the 5th leg of the 2024 Diamond League – the highest-level international tr ...

in Eugene, Oregon with a distance of 14.73 metres. In June 2024, she won the

2024 Diamond League The 2024 Diamond League is the fifteenth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by World Athletics. The competition is a revision to the top level athletics series since Diamond League foundation in 2010. The ...

event in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. On 12 July 2024, she jumped 14.96 metres to win at the

2024 Herculis The 2024 Herculis was the 38th edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Monaco. Held on 12 July at Stade Louis II, it was the ninth leg of the 2024 Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. High ...

Diamond League event in Monaco.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Leyanis Living people 2002 births Cuban female triple jumpers World Athletics Championships medalists 21st-century Cuban women Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics