Reigning European discus champion Mykolas Alekna opened his 2024 season with a huge throw and an excellent series at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, California on Saturday (6) afternoon.
The 22-year-old, who was deservedly crowned men's Rising Star at the Golden Tracks award ceremony in 2022, launched the discus out to a world lead of 71.39m to break his European U23 record and move up to tenth on the European all-time list.
And this was accompanied by marks of 69.82m, 68.24m and 69.96m - all of which were in excess of the previous world lead at this early juncture of the season.
Alekna made history at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships by winning the discus title at 19 to become the youngest ever male winner of a throwing title and emulate his father Virgilijus who won the European title in 2006.
Mykolas will be aiming to defend his European discus title in Rome from 7-12 June on the road to his anticipated Olympic debut in Paris later in the year.