The young Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna (21 years old) threw the discus at 74.35 meters this Sunday in Ramona (Oklahoma, United States), breaking the oldest male world record in athletics, the 74.08 m of the German Jürgen Schult, who had maintained for almost 38 years.
The performance, established in a minor competition, was announced by the World Athletics Championships on its social networks.
Mykolas Alekna, son of the double Olympic discus champion Virgilijus Alekna (2000 and 2004), far surpassed the mark of Schult, then an East German thrower, whose world record was established on June 6, 1986 in Neubrandenburg (Germany). ).
Mykolas Alekna already has two world medals, silver in Eugene (United States) in 2022 and bronze in Budapest last summer, and is one of the favorites for the Olympic podium this summer in Paris.
Before this competition, his record was 71.00 m, set in April 2023.
The oldest world record in athletics, combined for men and women, remains owned since July 1983 by the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova (then Czechoslovak), in 1 min 53 s 28 in 800 m.
