Yunior Díaz

Yunior Díaz Zayas (born 28 April 1987 in Sancti Spíritus) is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the decathlon and long jump.[1] He represented Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics and also at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. He won the silver medal at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics.

Yunior Díaz
Yunior Díaz before an attempt in long jump at the 2011 TNT - Fortuna Meeting decathlon in Kladno
Yunior Díaz at the 2011 TNT – Fortuna Meeting decathlon in Kladno
Personal information
Full nameYunior Díaz Zayas
Born (1987-04-28) April 28, 1987
Sancti Spíritus
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Country Cuba
SportAthletics
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Cuba
CAC Championships
Silver medal – second place2009 HavanaDecathlon
Updated on 25 December 2014.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Díaz and the second or maternal family name is Zayas.

Career

His first success as a junior athlete came at the 2005 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships where he won the silver medal.[2][3] Díaz emerged as one of a talented trio of Cuban male decathletes along with Leonel Suárez and Yordanis García. Cuban combined events coach Gabino Arzola stated in 2005 that it was his intent to see three Cubans compete in the decathlon at the 2012 Olympic Games.[4]

He set a decathlon personal best of 8057 in his home town of Havana in March 2008, breaking the 8000-point barrier for the first time.[5] Díaz's first appearance on the global stage came soon after at 2008 Summer Olympics, but he did not compete in his specialist event but rather as part of Cuba's 4×400 metres relay team with Yunier Pérez, William Collazo and Omar Cisneros. The team failed to progress beyond the heats stage of the competition.[6] He won his first senior medal the following year in Havana at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, finishing as runner-up behind compatriot Leonel Suárez but managing to score over 8000 points for the second time in his career with a final total of 8013.[7]

Díaz was selected to represent Cuba in the decathlon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics along with Suárez and García. He was in second place after five events (having scored 4512 points) and although he had slipped to ninth place by the end of the competition, he managed to significantly improve his personal best to 8357 points.[8] This score gave him eleventh place on the season's decathlon rankings.[9]

Personal bests
EventResultVenueDate
Outdoor
100 m10.66 s (wind: +0.2 m/s)Germany Berlin19 Aug 2009
Long jump8.02 m (wind: +0.3 m/s)Cuba La Habana22 Feb 2007
Shot put15.56 mCuba La Habana2 Mar 2012
High jump2.05 mCuba La Habana7 Mar 2008
400 m46.15 sGermany Berlin19 Aug 2009
110 m hurdles14.49 s (wind: -0.8 m/s)Cuba La Habana4 Jul 2009
Discus throw45.50 mGermany Ratingen15 Jun 2012
Pole vault4.60 mGermany Berlin20 Aug 2009
Javelin throw62.14 mCuba La Habana6 May 2011
1500 m4:30.16 minPuerto Rico Ponce27 May 2007
Decathlon8357 ptsGermany Berlin19/20 Aug 2009
Indoor
60 m6.91 sUkraine Sumy17 Feb 2010
Long jump7.62 mEstonia Tallinn12 Feb 2010
Shot put15.11 mUkraine Sumy17 Feb 2010
High jump1.99 mUkraine Sumy17 Feb 2010
60 m hurdles8.19 sUkraine Sumy17 Feb 2010
Pole vault4.25 mEstonia Tallinn8 Feb 2009
1000 m2:41.25 minEstonia Tallinn13 Feb 2010
Heptathlon5831 ptsUkraine Sumy17/18 Feb 2010

Competition record
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2005 Pan American Junior Championships Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2nd Decathlon 7290 pts
2007 NACAC Combined Events Championships Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 3rd Decathlon 7816 pts
2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China 7th (heats) 4 × 400 m relay 3:02.24
2009 Americas Combined Events Cup La Habana, Cuba 2nd Decathlon 7920 pts
CAC Championships La Habana, Cuba 2nd Decathlon 8013 pts
World Championships Berlin, Germany 9th Decathlon 8357 pts
2011 ALBA Games Barquisimeto, Venezuela 1st Decathlon 7800 pts
Pan American Games Guadalajara, México 19th (q) Long jump 7.21 m A (wind: -0.2 m/s)
1st (h) 4 × 400 m relay 3:04.33 min A
2014 Pan American Sports Festival Ciudad de México, México 3rd Long jump 7.83 m A (wind: 1.3 m/s)
Central American and Caribbean Games Xalapa, México 3rd Long jump 7.66 m A (wind: -0.9 m/s)
2015 Pan American Games Toronto, Canada 6th Long jump 7.90 m (w)

References
  1. XXIX JUEGOS OLIMPICOS BEIJING 2008 - Delegación Cubana (PDF) (in Spanish), Instituto Nacional de Deportes Educación Física y Recreación (INDER), p. 57, archived from the original (PDF) on January 1, 2016, retrieved June 24, 2013
  2. Clavelo Robinson, Javier (2006-03-02). Menéndez throws 65.02m in Santiago de Cuba. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  3. Pan American Junior Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  4. Yordanis Garcia - Beijing in his sights after World Youth Best. IAAF (2005-07-15). Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  5. Decatlón criollo alcanza mayoría de edad (in Spanish). Cuba Vision International. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  6. Yunior Díaz. Sports-reference. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  7. Clavelo Robinson, Javier (2009-07-05). Suarez tallies World leading 8654 points in Decathlon - CAC Champs Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  8. Julin, A. Lennart & Jalava, Mirko (2009-12-21). 2009 - End of Year Reviews – COMBINED EVENTS. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
  9. Decathlon 2009. IAAF (2010-02-24). Retrieved on 2010-05-21.
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