Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania broke a world record in the discus throw that had stood since 1986 at the Oklahoma Throws Series competition.
Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania broke a world record in the discus throw that had stood since 1986 at the Oklahoma Throws Series competition. Alekna’s throw of 243 feet, 11 inches (74.35 meters) on Sunday eclipsed the mark of 243 feet (74.08 meters) set by Germany’s Jurgen Schult on June 6, 1986.
Alekna who comes from a sporting family is the son of former two-time Olympian gold-medal-winning discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna. Utilising windy conditions, Mykolas broke the record throw of German athlete Jurgen Schult’s record.
Alekna’s throw was originally measured at 244-1 (74.41) but was later revised, according to World Athletics. The record is subject to ratification.
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The 21-year-old Alekna, a junior at the University of California, is a two-time medal winner at the World Outdoor Championships. He captured a silver medal at the 2022 Worlds in Oregon and a bronze last summer in Hungary.
His big throw bumped his father, Virgilijus, to third on the career list. Virgilijus Alekna had a toss of 242-4 (73.88) in 2000. Mykolas Alekna’s big day comes a day after Cuba’s Yaimé Perez recorded the longest women’s discus throw since 1989 at 239-9 (73.09).
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Although Mykolas’ stupendous throw broke the long-standing record, discus has many outstanding records including Alekna’s father Virgilijus. Given below is the list of 10 of the longest throws of discus history:
| S No. | Distance | Athlete | Country | Date |
| 1 | 74.35 m | Mykolas Alekna | Lithuania | April 14, 2024 |
| 2 | 74.08 m | Jurgen Schult | Germany | June 6, 1986 |
| 3 | 73.88 m | Virgilijus Alekna | Lithuania | August 3, 2000 |
| 4 | 73.38 m | Gerd Kanter | Estonia | September 4, 2006 |
| 5 | 71.86 m | Yuriy Dumchev | Soviet Union | May 29, 1983 |
| 5 | 71.86 m | Daniel Stahl | Sweden | June 29, 2019 |
| 5 | 71.86 m | Kristjan Čeh | Slovakia | June 16, 2023 |
| 8 | 71.70 m | Piotr Malachowski | Poland | June 08, 2013 |
| 9 | 71.70 m | Róbert Fazekas | Hungary | July 14, 2002 |
| 10 | 71.50 m | Lars Riedel | Germany | May 3, 1997 |
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