Yander Herrera Machín, from Las Tunas, won the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles in athletics at the Asunción 2025 Junior Pan American Games, thus fulfilling his promise from the day before.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Yander literally defeated Brazilian Thiago Dos Santos at the finish line. In fact, the time difference between was just one-hundredth of a second: 13.60 to 13.61 in favor of the Las Tunas native. In third place was Isaiah Patrick from Granada (13.73). In the opening stages of the race, Yander again missed several of the obstacles, which could have led to such a tied finish.

“I feel very proud of the result. I wasn't very happy with the time, as I had problems at the start, but I got my rhythm back,” he said moments after his victory. "Winning here was an obstacle he had to overcome. Moving forward is a race time under 13.30 seconds," added the hurdler.

The young man from the Buena Vista neighborhood also makes history by becoming the first athlete from Las Tunas to win a gold medal in this type of multi-sport competition and setting a record for the event at this stage.

On the previous day, the young man, just 18 years old, won his semifinal run, setting a record for the Junior Pan American Games. In his statements to the press, he predicted that this Friday, he would once again be the first to cross the finish line on the track at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium in the Paraguayan capital. The other Cuban in the final, Deivi Rodríguez, finished seventh.

Yander's title crowned Las Tunas' performance within the Cuban delegation to the Junior Pan American Games. The Balcony of Eastern Cuba had already won bronze medals through Sujailis Caridad Sardiñas Mendoza, in canoeing; Elaimis García Ramos, in archery; and Keiler Ávila, in rowing.