21-year-old Lithuanian discus thrower Mykolas Alekna broke the world record in the discus throw on Sunday, reaching 74.35 meters during the Oklahoma Throws Series meeting in the United States. With Alekna’s throw, the longest-standing world record in men’s athletics was broken: it had lasted for almost 38 years and belonged to the GDR (East Germany) thrower Jürgen Schult, who on 6 June 1986 had thrown the discus at 74, 08 meters in Neubrandenburg, Germany.
During the competition in Oklahoma, Mykolas Alekna – also thanks to favorable wind conditions – improved his previous personal best of 71.39 meters three times, throwing first to 72.21 and then to 72.89 meters, before the fifth at 74.35, new world record.
Mykolas Alekna is 21 years old, won gold at the European Championships in 2022 and bronze at the World Championships in 2023, and is the son of another great discus thrower, Virgilijus Alekna, two-time Olympic champion. Now two of the three best discus throwers in history belong to the Alekna family, as Virgilijus has a record of 73.88 meters, the third ever after those of his son Mykolas and Jürgen Schult.
Now the longest standing men’s world record is in the hammer throw, belonging to Yuri Sedych, an athlete from the former Soviet Union who threw it 86.74 meters on 30 August 1986. The world record that has not been broken for the longest time in athletics is that of the women’s 800 metres: no one has yet improved the time of 1 minute, 53 seconds and 28 hundredths set by Jarmila Kratochvílová on 26 July 1983 in Monaco , in Germany.
2024-04-15 08:56:12
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