Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna smashed his world discus record in Ramona, Oklahoma on Sunday (13), becoming the first thrower in history to break the 75 metre-barrier in the event.
Alekna only produced two valid throws in his series but both valid marks were in excess of his world record of 74.35m which he set in the same location last year to break Jurgen Schult’s long-standing mark of 74.08m which had stood since 1986.
In windy conditions, the 2022 European champion opened his series by launching the discus out to 74.89m before making history in the fourth round with a throw of 75.56m to become the first male thrower in history to surpass the 75 metre-line.
The depth behind Alekna was incredible with five athletes breaking the 70 metre-line.
Australia’s Matt Denny also broke the previous world record with 74.78m to finish second while Germany’s Clemens Prufer and Great Britain’s Lawrence Okoye threw 71.01m and a national record 70.76m in fourth and fifth respectively.
“I’m on the right track. I came to this meet with a clear mission: I knew that if I’m not going to improve the world record, Matt is going to do it,” said Alekna after the competition.
In the ‘B’ competition, Germans Mika Sosna and Steven Richter - both of whom are eligible for the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen this July - threw personal bests of 70.01m and 69.61m respectively.
European 10,000m race walk best for Stano
Italian race walkers are in excellent shape with the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia just over one month away on 18 May.
In the 10,000m race walk at the Italian Club Race Walking Championships in Prato on Sunday (13), Massimo Stano clocked the fastest ever time by a European with 37:33.03 to slash the previous European best of 37:53.09 set by Spain’s Francisco Fernandez in 2008.
It is also the third fastest time in history behind two faster times by Japanese walkers Eiki Takahashi and Koki Ikeda who clocked 37:25.21 and 37:25.90 respectively in the same race in 2020.
Just behind Stano, Francesco Fortunato - who won the individual 20km race walk title at the 2023 European Race Walking Team Championships - also broke the previous European best, clocking 37:34.90 to finish second.
The two Italian race walkers will be teammates rather than rivals at next month's European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady.
Fortunato has his sights set on defending his 20km race walk title whereas Stano is planning to contest the 35km race walk, the distance at which he was crowned world champion in 2022.
Federica Curiazzi won the women’s 10,000m race walk in a world lead and lifetime best of 43:18.05.