World Track Championships: Cal's Mykolas Alekna Qualifies for Discus Final

Cal rising junior Mykolas Alekna easily qualified into Monday’s final in the discus at the World Athletics Championships at Budapest, Hungary.

Alekna threw 216 feet, 8 inches (66.04 meters) on Saturday — the second-best mark from two groups of qualifying — to earn a spot in the finals for the second year in a row. Last summer he won silver at the meet in Eugene, Oregon, becoming the youngest man ever, at 19, to claim a medal in the discus at the Worlds.

No one achieved the automatic qualifying standard of 218-2 (66.50) so the top 12 finishers in qualifying will line up on Monday at 11:30 a.m. PT.

“It’s very strong this year,” Alekna told worldathletics.org. “It’s the strongest it has ever been, (with) five guys over 70 meters. It’s a very good competition, I am glad I can just be in the field with all the other guys. It’s my second year with the big guys, so I’m a new guy. I just say ‘hi’. We are not friends or anything, but we are good colleagues.”

All five of the 70-meter throwers in the field qualified for the final.

Alekna owns a lifetime best of 232-11 (71.00), which is the collegiate record.

The top qualifier was 2021 Olympic champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden, who threw 217-4 (66.25). Stahl has a lifetime best of 235-9 (71.86).

But the favorite is Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh, the defending World champ who has thrown 235-9 (71.86) this season. Ceh qualified with a mark of 216-5 (65.95).

Failing to advance was Martynas Alekna, Mykolas’ older brother, who wound up 21st in qualifying at 205-3 (62.57), more than 15 feet off his season best.

On Sunday morning, Cal volunteer assistant coach Elena Bruckner failed to advance out of the women's discus qualifying. She threw 183-6 (55.94), well off her season best of 201-9 (61.51), to finish 29th overall among 37 entries in two flights.

The top qualifier in the women's discus was fellow American Valerie Allman, the defending Olympic champion and 2023 world leader, with a mark of 220-3 (67.14).

Cover photo of Cal discus thrower Mykolas Alekna by Kirby Lee, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo