THROWS FANS KNEW that Mykolas Alekna was more than just a good catch for Cal. Coming in as an 18-year-old, the Lithuanian discus ace had already won World and European Junior (U20) titles. His best with the big platter was 208-5 (63.52). Those are the kind of skills that can make a big dent in NCAA competition.
His bloodline only made his upside look better: his dad is Virgilijus Alekna, owner of Olympic gold medals from ’00 and ’04, plus World titles in ’03 and ’05.
Even so, when the dust settled on his ’22 campaign, even the Cal frosh was stunned by what he had accomplished. “It surpassed my expectations for sure,” he says. “I didn’t expect to throw that far for the season. My goal was to maybe throw 66m [216-6], 65-66. I just wanted to qualify for the World Championships, but the season was way better than I expected. I was surprised; my coaches too. We were surprised but happy at the same time.”
PRs of 218-10 (66.70) and 222-0 (67.68) came in the early season, the latter a Collegiate Dual Meet Record. Then he won the Pac-12 with a Collegiate Record of 225-6 (68.73). He came to the NCAA meet as a strong favorite, only to fall an inch short of Virginia’s Claudio Romero.
“I learned a lot from that experience,” he says. “There was a lot of pressure because everyone expected me to win. And I just realized that nothing is promised and I just have to work way harder than I used to work. I wasn’t very disappointed because that’s a super great lesson. I just became more motivated and I came back to Europe and kept training and the results improved a lot.”
In his next outing, he won the Lithuanian title with another best, 226-4 (69.00). He followed that up in Stockholm with another PR of 229-0 (69.81), good for 2nd behind Slovenia’s Kristjan Čeh.
At the Worlds, the then-19-year-old performed like a veteran, moving into 2nd in round 2 and eventually finishing with the silver at 227-3 (69.27). Again, Čeh won, on his way to being our No. 1 for the year.
Says Alekna, who ended up rated No, 2, “It was my first major competition. I had competed in Worlds and European Championships, but those were U20 competitions and weren’t as important. This was my first major, and I learned that I need to deal with pressure better. I feel like I could have thrown better. My practice throws were further than my…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Track & Field News…