Following in your parents’ footsteps can be a daunting task: Just ask Bronny James what it’s like to launch a sports career without comparisons to his father, LeBron, arguably the greatest basketball player in history.
For some, the pressure and expectations might forge diamonds – and Paris 2024 has no shortage of this type of athlete.
Lithuanian discus thrower Mykolas Alekna is poised to carry on the legacy of his father, Virgilijus, who holds an Olympic record in the same discipline. His 69.89-meter throw in Athens 2004 guaranteed the then-32-year-old a second Olympic gold medal, having also won in Sydney 2000.
Despite Virgilijus cementing his family’s name in the record books, his son has already one-upped him, achieving a 74.35-meter throw in April which broke the longest-standing men’s track and field world record: Jürgen Schult’s 1986’s throw of 74.08 meters.
It was a record the elder Alekna was chasing his entire career and got close only once: a personal record of 73.88 meters thrown just before the Sydney Games.
“If you don’t change anything, you’ll be just like your father: without the world record,” Virgilijus said to Lithuanian news outlet Lrytas when asked what he said to his son a month prior to his record-breaking effort.
Who is Mykolas Alekna?
Born in September 2002, Mykolas didn’t follow his father’s footsteps straight away.
He briefly played soccer and turned his attention to the world of track and field when he was seven.
Alekna showed promised early in his career and he moved to train and study at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. A year later, he started putting everyone on notice.
He became the youngest world discus medalist in history after he won silver at the 2022 World Championships, and the youngest ever winner at the European Championships in Munich. It was in the Bavarian capital where Alekna’s effort of 69.78 meters set the championship record.
Last year, a throw of 71 meters moved him to the top 20 throws of all-time. The world record followed in April 2024, when all his six throws – alongside his new all-time mark – were over the elite 70-meter mark.
Deep-rooted tradition
Alekna’s success in the discus throw is testament to Lithuania’s deep-rooted tradition in this field event – the Baltic state has been hugely successful with the discus in hand.
While Lithuania’s history in discus began in 1921, according to its national broadcaster LRT, the nation had not seen success until Romas Ubartas became the European champion while representing the Soviet Union in 1986. Two years later, he won silver at the Seoul Games.
Ubartas also became the first Lithuanian to win gold in Barcelona 1992, two years after Lithuania broke away from the Soviet Union. Since then, all discus finals at the Olympics have featured at least one Lithuanian.
Virgilijus Alekna’s victories on the global stage helped to popularize the sport, and now, finals of discus throw are among the most-watched Olympic events in Lithuania.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuanian discus throwers have won five Olympic, eight World and seven European championship medals; nine of the 20 were gold.
In Paris, three discus throwers from Lithuania will aim to keep the tradition alive: alongside Alekna, his brother Martynas and former world and European champion Andrius Gudžius – who seeks to reach his third consecutive Olympic final – look to make the nation proud.
Expectations are high for Mykolas Alekna to deliver on Thursday, where he will be the man to beat; however, men’s discus will be as competitive as ever at the Paris Games.
Though dominant in this year’s Diamond League – the Lithuanian star won all three meets which featured discus in their programs – he was out-thrown this year at the European Athletics Championships in Rome, where both Slovenian Kristjan Čeh (68.08 m) and Austrian Lukas Weißhaidinger (67.70 m) had better marks than him (67.48 m). Tokyo Games champion Daniel Ståhl from Sweden will also pose a big threat to the top three.
Whatever happens these Games, both Lithuania and a legendary father will be watching proceedings closely.