FIL-CUBANathlete Tyler Ruiz cleared 7.63 meters to bag the bronze medal in the men’s long jump recently in the 2016 Chula Vista High Performance Track and Field meet in San Diego, California.
Ruiz, whose father is from Cuba, finished behind gold medalist Ted Hooper, who had a 7.70-meter performance, according to official results.
This was the 25-year-old Ruiz’s best showing after shifting from high jump.
His effort surpassed the Southeast Asian Games bronze medal standard, which Donovant Arriola reset last year in Singapore at 7.51 meters.
Ruiz also came close to the 7.69-meter performance of Julian Reem Fuentes in the recent Philippine National Open.
This makes Ruiz a top candidate for the coming Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.
He shifted from high jump after tying the national record of 2.13 meters in 2012.
Prior to this, Rio Olympics-bound Eric Cray clocked 49.07 seconds and shattered two records in settling for the silver medal in the men’s 400-meter action of the 2016 Kawasaki Golden Grand Prix Athletics World Championship in Tokyo Sunday.
Cray’s feat had him surpassing the national record of 49.12 seconds, which he himself set last year in the 2015 Cayman Island meet.
He also went past the 49.40-second mark, the new course record he set in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
His stint in Tokyo serves as part of his preparations for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Cray placed 17th overall in Saturday’s semifinal round of the 60-meter run in the 2016 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Portland, Oregon. The 27-year-old Cray clocked 6.67 seconds.
His clocking is far behind the 6.44 seconds of Jamaica’s Asafa Powell.
Cray’s 6.67 in the worlds improved on the 6.7 seconds, which he clocked in last month’s Asian Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar.
While in Qatar, he took the bronze behind Iran’s Hassan Taftian (6.56) and Reza Ghasemi (6.66).
He momentarily held the Games’ record when he clocked 6.57 in the semifinal round, until Iran’s Taftian ran in the final.