 That July in Havana he improved his 400 m hurdles best by six tenths of a second, breaking the Cuban record held by Yacnier Luis with a run of 48.29 seconds.Two weeks later, the 20-year-old went even faster with a time of 48.21 seconds.In the first half of 2011 he won the Barrientos Memorial and two European meets in Cottbus and Celle Ligure.