Reigning European champion Mykolas Alekna from Lithuania broke the longest standing men’s world record on the books on Sunday (14) afternoon in Ramona, Oklahoma.
Jürgen Schult’s previous world record of 74.08m dated back to 1986 and had survived the best endeavours of some of the greatest throwers in history - including Mykolas’ father Virgilijus who had come closest to breaking Schült’s mark with 73.88m in 2000 - but Mykolas took the record into uncharted territory in Oklahoma.
In near-perfect conditions for discus throwers, Alekna hurled the two kilogram implement out to a history-making 74.35m in the fifth round to break the 38-year-old world record in a series which saw the Lithuanian surpass the 70 metre-line with all six of his efforts.
Alekna broke his previous lifetime best and European U23 record with three of his six throws. He also recorded marks of 72.21m and 72.89m in the first and third round respectively which were interspersed with throws of 70.32m, 70.51m and 70.50m.
His series in full was: 72.21m, 70.32m, 72.89m, 70.51m, 74.35m, 70.50m.
Speaking on losing his world record, Schult told Leichtathletik.de: “I woke up my wife this morning with the words: you now have a former world record-holder at home. I had 38 years to prepare for it. There were some who could have made it, Virgilijus Alekna, Gerd Kanter or Robert Harting. The conditions were sometimes not right, but now everything came together."
"I immediately congratulated Mykolas Alekna. That was a really strong performance, you have to acknowledge that, including the series with six 70-metre throws. I never managed that in competition."
Next stop: Roma 2024
Alekna made history at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships when he won the discus title aged just 19 to become the youngest ever male athlete to win a throwing title in European Athletics Championships history and the 21-year-old will be defending his continental title in just over 50 days’ time.
The men’s discus is shaping up to be one of the standout events of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 June.
Alekna will cross paths with Sweden’s reigning world and Olympic champion Daniel Ståhl who will be motivated to complete the set of major titles, and the statuesque Slovenian Kristjan Ceh who will be looking to return to the top of the podium having come away with silver medals at the 2022 European Athletics Championships and 2023 World Athletics Championships.
And if the conditions cooperate in the Stadio Olimpico, it seems eminently possible we could see the first ever 70 metre-plus throw at a European Athletics Championships this summer.
The championship record belongs to Alekna himself with 69.78m from Munich 2022.