Cal Grad Mykolas Alekna Wins Discus at Diamond League Final

Cal grad Mykolas Alekna tuned up for next month’s World Championships by winning the discus at the Zurich Weltklasse Diamond League Final.

The 22-year-old world-recordholder delivered the three longest throws of meet in a competition featuring most of the top athletes expected to provide the greatest challenge at the Worlds, Sept. 13-21 in Tokyo.

Alekna won with a mark of 226 feet, 0 inches (68.89 meters), nowhere near his world record of 247-11 (75.56) but more than five feet better than runner-up Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia.

”This is a very precious victory for me — my first Diamond League trophy,” he said. “So I am very happy for this win despite the fact that it did not go exactly how I planned. I think I have way more in me.

“Now, I want to make sure that at the World championships, I will show all I have. And it is much more than I showed today.”

Alekna, who completed his four years and three seasons at Cal last spring, already has won silver and bronze medals at the World Championships and a silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics. All that’s missing from his trophy case is a gold medal.

Alekna earned a $30,000 prize for his victory in Switzerland.

Besides his winning mark, he had throws of 224-0 (68.28) and 220-7 (67.25) and three fouls.

Ceh, the 2022 world champion, was second at 220-5 (67.18), and Paris Olympic champion Roje Stona of Jamaica was third at 220-0 (67.06). Australia’s Matthew Denny, who is second on the all-time world list behind Alekna, was fourth at 218-7 (66.62) and Sweden’s Daniel Stahl, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, was fifth at 218-1 (66.47).

Alekna, who will complete his final season of college eligibility at Oregon, said he will attend a training camp in Japan next week. "My form is going to go up and it will be really good for Tokyo,” he said. “It is just about timing. I made small mistakes and technically, it did not go as I wanted to, so I think it is a good lesson and I will fix everything for Tokyo. And hopefully I win.”

After training camp, Alekna will return home to Lithuania to celebrate this victory with his family.

“And then back to work for Tokyo,” he said, “because that is the only thing that matters this season.”

One-time Cal middle-distance runner Georgia Hunter Bell finished second in the women’s 800 meters, clocking a personal-best time of 1 minute, 55.96 seconds. Her time is third-fastest in the world this year.

The 31-year-old from Great Britain, a surprise bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the Paris Olympics, confirmed she will run the 800 at Tokyo.

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