Cal Grad Mykolas Alekna Wins Lithuanian National Discus Title

Updated

Cal grad Mykolas Alekna won his third Lithuanian national title in the men’s discus on Saturday and achieved another milestone in the process.

The 22-year-old, who three times set the world record over the past 16 months, has been met with skepticism from some quarters because he achieved those marks with the aid of beneficial but legal winds in Ramona, Oklahoma.

At the Palangos Stadionas in the city of Palanga, Alekna delivered his longest in any setting aside from the Oklahoma venue.

He threw 236 feet, 8 inches (72.15 meters), easily beating his brother and runner-up Martynas Alekna, whose best mark was 216-7 (66.01). The third-place finisher was 34-year-old Andrius Gudzius, a two-time Olympian and 2017 World Championships gold medalist, who threw 214-5 (65.35) on Saturday.

Meanwhile, at the British Athletics Championships, Cal alum Anna Purchase captured the women’s hammer throw crown with a meet-record and season-best effort of 239-4 (72.96) on her final attempt. The 25-year-old prevailed by a margin of nearly 18 feet.

On Sunday, Cal grad Georgia Hunter Bell, 31, a bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics, won the 800 title at the British championships. She ran 1:59.53 to beat Jemma Reekie, the fourth-place finisher in the event at the Paris Games.

Alekna, silver medalist last summer at the Paris Olympics, broke the world record for the first time in April 2024 when he popped a massive throw of 243-11 (74.35) at Ramona to shatter a 38-year-old record.

He returned to the Oklahoma meet on April 13 of this year and twice eclipsed his year-old standard, including with a best of 247-11 (75.56).

Alekna’s only defeat in 10 meets this season came at the NCAA Championships, where inexplicably he finished second for the third straight time. He managed a throw of just 219-0 (66.77) at the NCAAs, nearly 30 feet shy of his world record and more than 16 feet short of the mark he logged on Saturday.

Alekna graduated from Cal this spring and announced he will complete his final year of collegiate eligibility at Oregon next year.

His target competition this season is the World Championships on Tokyo in September, where he will try to improve on a silver-medal finish at 2022 in Eugene and a 2023 bronze at Budapest.

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