Discus throw, men

What to remember

On April 13, 2025, at a meet of the Oklahoma Throws Series held in Ramona, United States, Lithuania's Mykolas Alekna threw the discus 75.56 m. Earlier that year he had already gone past the old mark of East German Jürgen Schult with 74.89 m. The women's record, 76.80 m by Gabriele Reinsch in 1988, is longer.

The discus dates back to ancient Greece, as Myron's statue the Discobolus shows, and is part of the modern decathlon. The first record kept here is from 1912: 47.58 m by American James Duncan. Willy Schröder reached 53.10 m in 1935, Jay Silvester 68.40 m in 1968, Wolfgang Schmidt 71.16 m in 1978, and Schult 74.08 m in 1986. Over 113 years the mark grew by 58.8%.

Born on September 28, 2002, Alekna is the son of double Olympic discus champion Virgilijus Alekna, and his brother Martynas also throws. At the age of 19 he won silver at the 2022 World Championships, becoming the youngest world discus medallist in history, then took the European title the same year. He competes for the University of Oregon.