Leonel Suárez

Leonel Suárez

Leonel Suárez during the 2011 Hypo-Meeting
Personal information
Nationality  Cuba
Born 1 September 1987 (1987-09-01) (age 24)
Holguín, Cuba
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Decathlon / Heptathlon
Medal record
Men’s athletics
Competitor for  Cuba
Olympic Games
Bronze 2008 Beijing Decathlon
World Championships
Silver 2009 Berlin Decathlon
Bronze 2011 Daegu Decathlon
Pan American Games
Gold 2011 Guadalajara Decathlon
CAC Championships
Gold 2009 Havana Decathlon

Leonel Suárez (born September 1, 1987 in Holguín) is a male decathlete from Cuba. He was the bronze medalist in the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and improved to the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships. He won a third consecutive global medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, taking the bronze.

His personal best for the decathlon is 8654 points (which set in Havana, winning the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships).

Contents

Career

Suárez was fourth at the 2007 Pan American Games. In 2008, he was also fourth at Hypo-Meeting and finished as runner-up in the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge that year. He scored a gold medal at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics.

He competed at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, but only managed seventh place. In the outdoor season, he was runner-up at the 2010 Multistars meeting in Desenzano del Garda, finishing with 8112 points behind American Jake Arnold.[1] He was third at the Hypo-Meeting at the end of May, but he reached the top of the podium at the Décastar competition in Talence with a total of 8328 points.[2]

At the 2011 Hypo Meeting he threw a meeting record of 75.49 m in the javelin, although his final score of 8440 points for second place was some distance behind the winner Trey Hardee.[3] After a modest start at the 2011 TNT - Fortuna Meeting, he began the second day in ninth place but he pulled himself back into contention and, helped by a pole vault best of 5.00 m, he took the men's title with a total of 8231 points.[4] At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in August, Suárez won the bronze medal in decathlon with a final points tally of 8501.[5] Although he had not won all of is outings, his consistent high scores over the three meetings earned him the IAAF Combined Events Challenge title that year.[6]

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Cuba
2007 Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4th Decathlon
2008 Hypo-Meeting Götzis, Austria 4th Decathlon
Olympic Games Beijing, PR China 3rd Decathlon
2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships Havana, Cuba 1st Decathlon
World Championships Berlin, Germany 2nd Decathlon
2010 World Indoor Championships Doha, Qatar 7th Heptathlon
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 3rd Decathlon
Pan American Games Guadalajara, Mexico 1st Decathlon

References

  1. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2010-05-10). Arnold and Goncharova prevail in Desenzano del Garda – IAAF Combined Events Challenge. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-06-04.
  2. ^ van Kuijen, Hans (2010-09-19). Suarez and Chernova prevail in Talence - IAAF World Combined Events Challenge. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-09-19.
  3. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2011-05-29). World champions Hardee and Ennis set world season leads in Götzis - IAAF Combined Events Challenge. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-06-18.
  4. ^ Procházka, Michal (2011-06-17). Chernova impresses with 6773pts tally in Kladno – IAAF Combined Events Challenge. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-06-18.
  5. ^ Hart, Simon (August 28, 2011). "World Athletics Championships 2011: American Trey Hardee retains decathlon title as Ashton Eaton fades". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/athletics/8728864/World-Athletics-Championships-2011-American-Trey-Hardee-retains-decathlon-title-as-Ashton-Eaton-fades.html. Retrieved August 29, 2011. 
  6. ^ Suárez and Chernova are the overall winners of the 2011 IAAF Combined Events Challenge. IAAF (2011-09-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.

External links