Mykolas Alekna — Talent Found Its Terroir

DISCUS THROWERS ARE like fine wine. It takes time for them to properly ferment. The reason for this, according to ’08 Olympic champion Gerd Kanter, is the high degree of difficulty involved in executing a movement that is both linear and rotational, and which must be performed rhythmically. “If you get tight,” he says, “it really affects your performance. It usually takes a lot of experience to learn to stay relaxed in a high-pressure situation, which is why discus is an old boy’s event.”

Or used to be, anyway, before Mykolas Alekna began tearing up the record books.

If you are in the mood for some astonishment, check out his WA profile. There you will read how he became Collegiate Recordholder, World Championships silver medalist, European Championships gold medalist and record-holder… all at the age of 19.

A year later, he was European U23 champion and recordholder and took his second WC medal.

Before his twenty-second birthday, he had relieved Jürgen Schult of the World Record the German had held since ’86, won a second European Championships medal, and surpassed his father’s old Olympic Record on the way to finishing 2nd to Rojé Stona in Paris.

So far this season, Alekna has already twice extended his World Record and become the first man to launch a discus 75m.

And he has done all this while working towards a psychology degree at Cal, a school that does not offer “blow-off” classes designed to keep athletes eligible.

It’s fitting that Berkeley is located not far from the Napa Valley where the combination of soil and climate — the “terroir” as the French would say — produces some of the world’s best wine. Discus throwers need the proper terroir as well, and Alekna found just the right stuff at Cal.

Golden Bear throws coach Mo Saatara maintains a collaborative environment with his athletes, which has suited Mykolas’ personality. Alekna, according to Saatara, “asks a lot of questions. He’s hungry for knowledge about the biomechanics of throwing, how training is supposed to work, what to be mindful about.”

Their give and take has allowed Alekna to develop a style of throwing that feels comfortable and can hold up under the pressure of an Olympics or World Championships.

“People don’t realize how much of his technique is his technique,” Saatara explained. “Mykolas is the driver…