Dailenys Alcántara Pacheco (born 10 August 1991) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competes in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

and occasionally the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. She was the 2007 World Youth champion then became the first person to win two straight triple jump title at the

World Junior Championships in Athletics The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the yea ...

(2008 and 2010). She represented Cuba at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

Career

Born in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, Alcántara's talent for track and field was identified at a young age. She competed in

sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...

events and the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, but found most success in the triple jump, taking victories at the Cuban schools games in 2002 and 2004. A triple jump/long jump double followed at the 2006 ESPA high school championships. Her international debut came at the age of fifteen at the

2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the fifth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held on 11–15 July 2007 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Results Boys Girls Medals table See also ...

. She entered the competition as the world's leading youth athlete with her personal best of 14.21 m and claimed the triple jump title ahead of fellow Cuban Josleidy Ribalta. She also placed seventh in the long jump.Alcántara Dailenys
IAAF. Retrieved 2012-07-24. Despite being one of the younger entrants, Alcántara improved two personal bests at the

2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008. Previously Bydgoszcz hosted ...

, jumping 14.25 m to take the triple jump

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

and 6.41 m to earn herself the long jump bronze medal. She began to establish herself nationally in 2009 by winning the long jump at the

Barrientos Memorial The Barrientos Memorial () is an annual track and field meeting in Havana, Cuba each May. The event was first held in 1946, in recognition of José Barrientos (a former Cuban Olympic sprinter), who died in an aviation accident the previous year. ...

and placing third in the triple jump with a Central American and Caribbean junior record of 14.36 m (beating

Mabel Gay Mabel Gay Tamayo (born 5 May 1983 in Santiago de Cuba) is a Cuban triple jumper. Her personal best jump is 14.67 metres, achieved in September 2011 in Daegu. Personal bests Outdoor *Long jump: 6.28 m – Rio de Janeiro, 17 May 2009 *Tripl ...

's former mark). That year she entered senior international events, winning the long jump at the 2009 ALBA Games and placing sixth at the

2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics The 2009 in athletics (track and field), 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships (Spanish: ''XXII Campeonato CAC Atletismo'') was the twenty second edition of the tournament and was held between 3 and 7 July in Havana, Cuba. Event summar ...

. She also won the triple jump at the

2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The 2009 Pan American Junior Championships were held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on July 31 to August 2, 2009. A report on the results was given. Participation (unofficial) Detailed result lists can ...

. She focused just on the triple jump from 2010 onwards. She won the Barrientos Memorial that year, setting a best of 14.34 m there. At the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

she became the first athlete to win back-to-back triple jump titles and was over 30 cm ahead of the competition. The following year she set a personal best of 14.56 m in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Brazilian Athletics Tour. She was one of four Cuban women to compete in the triple jump at the

, but on her major debut her mark of 13.78 m was not enough to reach the final. She defeated two-time world champion

Yargelis Savigne Yargelis Savigne Herrera (born 13 November 1984 in Niceto Pérez, Guantanamo) is a Cuban athlete competing in the triple jump and long jump. Her international breakthrough came in 2005, when she, competing in both the triple and long jump eve ...

at the 2012

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

Centenary meet in Havana with a personal best jump of 14.58 m. She came third at the

adidas Grand Prix The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, New York. The event was part of the IAAF Grand Prix from 2007 to 2009. For 2010 it was promoted to the top-level Diamond League through 2015. ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meet in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in June and made her first Cuban Olympic team a month later.

Personal bests

Outdoor *Long jump: 6.41 m (wind: +1.9 m/s) –

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, 12 July 2008 *Triple jump: 14.58 m (wind: -1.4 m/s) –

La Habana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 18 February 2012

International competitions

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcantara, Dailenys Living people 1991 births Cuban female triple jumpers Cuban female long jumpers Athletes from Santiago de Cuba Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Cuba Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games athletes for Cuba Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Cuba Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics 21st-century Cuban sportswomen