by Larry Eder
Mkyolas Alekna, son of Virgijilius Alekna, continues the family tradition of great discus throwers.
In Ramona, Oklahoma, at the Oklahoma Throw Series World Invitational on April 13, the gigantic Lithuanian becomes the first man over 75 meters, throwing 75.56 m, or 247 feet, 11 inches! What an enormous throw!
His series was 74.89m for the first throw (245-8) and then fouls on second and third attemtps. On his fourth attempt, Alekna threw his massive 75.56m or 247-11, then, fouls on fifth and sixth
In Alekna’s family, there are now two of the top discus throws ever: Mykolas Alenka’s 75.56m and his father, Virgiliijus Alekna, with a fine 73.88m from way back in 2000!
Remember, last year, on April 14, 2024, also in Ramona, Oklahoma, Mykolos Alekna broke the oldest world record in track and field, the 74.08m set by the one and only Jurgen Schult in 1986, when he was throwing for East Germany.
Heads up for Matt Denny of Australia, who threw 74.78m and just broke his three-day-old Aussie record (74.25m), with USA Sam Mattis at 71.27m to finish third!
The Men’s discus had five men over 70 meters and seven beyond 69 meters!
And remember (story coming up), Valarie Allman rewrote the North American and US records with her 73.52m in Ramona on Saturday!
Mykolas is only 22! And what an amazing level of discus throwers in our modern era!
Enjoy the stat geek stuff from our friends at World Athletics!
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Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna improved his own discus world record by more than a metre with a sensational 75.56m* throw at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, in Ramona on Sunday (13). Back at the meeting where he set his first world record of 74.35m last year, the Olympic silver medallist twice improved that mark – first setting a world record of 74.89m with his opening throw and then improving to 75.56m in the fourth round. Australia’s Matt Denny, who threw 74.25m in Ramona on Thursday (10), also surpassed Alekna’s previous world record by launching the discus at 74.78m. In a competition of record depth, five athletes surpassed 70 metres, and seven threw beyond 69 metres. USA’s Sam Mattis, who threw 70.08m to finish runner-up to Denny three days earlier, improved to 71.27m to finish third in Sunday’s contest, and Germany’s Clemens Prufer threw 71.01m to finish fourth. Great Britain’s Lawrence Okoye finished fifth with 70.76m. Alekna’s 74.35m in Ramona on 14 April last year had broken the longest-standing men’s world record – that 74.08m achieved by Jurgen Schult in 1986, some 16 years before Alekna was born. Now, the 22-year-old has become the first athlete to surpass 75 meters. The Alekna family has two of the top four men’s discus throwers in history, with two-time Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna – the father of Mykolas – now placed fourth on the world all-time list with his 73.88m from 2000. Mykolas Alekna’s latest world record came the day after Valarie Allman threw a North American record of 73.52m in Ramona for the world’s farthest women’s discus throw since 1989. *Subject to the usual ratification procedure |
To see the broadcast of the 2025 Throw Town Throw Invitational:
