Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas will clash Tokyo silver medalist Patrícia Mamona on Saturday 18 June at the Meeting of Madrid — a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet — at Vallehermoso Stadium.

Last March, the Venezuelan set an outright world record of 15.74m in her way to a third global indoor title in a row in Belgrade. Now the 26-year-old jumper seeks a third consecutive outdoor gold medal in Oregon and targets the recently-unimaginable 16-meter barrier. Will Rojas approach that landmark in Madrid?

At Vallehermoso Stadium, Rojas will rematch the Olympic final against runner-up Mamona, who broke the 15-meter barrier for the first time in her career in Tokyo, setting a new Portuguese record of 15.01m.

Now 32, Mamona seeks to win her first medal at World Championship in Oregon after placing sixth in Doha three years ago, fourth in Sopot in 2014 and sixth in Belgrade last march — both two indoors.

Based in Guadalajara, just 50 kilometers from Madrid, the Olympic champion has competed so many times in Madrid that she has built a strong fanbase in the city. In 2020, Rojas set her first world indoor record (15.43m) at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur. And four years before, she had leaped over 15 meters (15.02m) for the first time in her career at the Meeting of Madrid — then held in Moratalaz.

On Saturday 18 June, Rojas will jump in front of the Vallehermoso Stadium crowd for the first time. The Olympic champion had already competed there in 2021 — winning with a wind-aided 15.34m (+2.2) leap and a 15.19m legal jump — but the public wasn’t allowed to attend the meet due to the pandemic. After that triumph in Madrid, Rojas took the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, breaking the world record with 15.67m on route to the win.

In that same contest in Madrid last year, Mamona placed third with a season best leap of 14.47m, then claimed the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo with 15.01m. It was the icing on the cake of a stunning year for the Portuguese jumper, who had won the European indoor title in Torun in March — her second-career continental gold medal after Amsterdam 2016.

In addition to her Olympic silver medal and her two European titles, Mamona has won two European silver medals ­— one outdoors in Helsinki in 2012, one indoors in Belgrade in 2017. The 32-year-old athlete owns two NCAA titles and has become Portuguese champion 20 times over her career.

Women’s triple jump field for the Meeting of Madrid also include national record-holders of Germany (Kristin Gierisch, 14.61m), Israel (Hanna Minenko, 14.78m) and Dominican Republic (Ana Tima, 14.49m), 12-time Spanish champion Patricia Sarrapio (14.27m) and four-time Italian champion Ottavia Cestonaro (14.18m).

Don’t miss out on your chance to see the Olympic champion and runner-up compete at Vallehermoso Stadium at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Meeting of Madrid. Secure your seats at https://www.enterticket.es/eventos/world-athletics-continental-tour-silver-madrid-2022-563018