• Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania broke a world record in the discus throw at the Oklahoma Throws Series competition that had stood since 1986. 

• Alekna’s throw of 243 feet, 11 inches (74.35 meters) on April 14 eclipsed the mark of 243 feet (74.08 meters) set by Germany's Jurgen Schult on June 6, 1986. 

• Schult’s mark, set when he represented East Germany, had been the longest-standing men’s world record in track and field.

• 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 bronze last summer in Hungary.

• The Alekna family now has two of the three best men’s discus throwers in history, with two-time Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna – the father of Mykolas – now placed third on the world all-time list with his 73.88m from 2000.

• Mykolas Alekna’s big day comes a day after Cuba’s Yaim Perez recorded the longest women’s discus throw since 1989 at 239-9 (73.09). 

• Perez, the 2019 world champion, not only smashed through the 70-metre barrier for the first time, she also threw beyond 71, 72 and 73 metres.

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