The Greatest World Record of 2024 Was Ridiculous 

For those wondering: Yes, this was an official competition with all the necessary requirements for a world record. This was the Oklahoma Throws Series in Ramona, Oklahoma. Here are the live results from the competition - results.blacksquirreltiming.com/meets/34082/live/field/4-1

Bruh, I'm 55 years old. This record was set the day after I graduated from high school 😲🤯 Talk about untouchable!! Ridiculous!

What’s also crazy was just the whole series. Every single throw was over 70m, with half of them over 72m. He seemed frustrated at his first throw over 72m, even though it was a big PB. I think all of that indicates he still has so much more in the tank and he could end up rewriting the record books in a similar manner as the likes of Crouser, Duplantis, or Rojas.

Finally the son surpasses his father and even Jürgen Schult :)

As a 17 year old freshman at Cal in 1967/68, I set the freshman record in the discus or 176'. 55 years later, I saw a video of this 19 year old Lithuanian freshman, Mikolas Alekna at Cal surpass my throw..........by over 50+ feet!!!! I was absolutely awestruck at how smooth, fast and explosive Alekna was through the circle. When I read that he was the son of the Olympic discus champion, Virgilijus Alekna I knew this kid was something special. Indeed young Mykolas Alekna is, having just broken a 38 year old world record set by Jurgen Schult. I look forward to watching Mykolas compete against the likes of Stahl, Ceh and others over the next decade or so. Glad to see the international discus competition is in good hands.

He’s not even attached/sponsored get that man a sponsorship! The fact we have a WR holder not sponsored is a sad day for Track and Field there’s really not enough money in the events

Watching him spin in place gracefully after he lets go of the discuss has got to be one of the most satisfying things in sports

The average RU-vidr films between 1080p and 4K. Bro got a new world record which was filmed on a potato 🇺🇸

His father, double Olympic and world champion Virgilijus Alekna threw 73.88 officially and reportedly threw 76+ metres multiple times in training. Gerd Kanter also threw over 73 metres. The elder Alekna also never looked for particularly windy and thus record inducing conditions for his throws. Kanter and young Alekna threw their best results in massively windy conditions on stadiums built near sea and at meets designed for that purpose. As for the current situation, it cannot be any crazier. There are multiple contenders to break the new record again. The Slovene Kristjan Čeh is only getting warmed up, for instance.

I think we can safely say that any world records set in ANY event by East Germany are, at the very least, dubious. All you have to know is how ridiculously muscled their female swimmers were.

For a person who keeps commenting on track and field matters. Incredible that you didn't mention the effect of (strong) quartering winds. A look at some of the relevant tapes, shows a very strong wind coming from the right of the right handed thrower. The effect of quartering winds in adding quite a few meters to distances, was highlighted in 1968, when Oerter decimated Silvester in the Olympic Final; Silvester's earlier WR (with quartering winds) was then unattainable. I recall reports of John Powell throwing in Antelope Valley in the 1970s, under similar conditions. In Alekna's defense (if he needs it) is that Schulz's WR was set under such "favorable" conditions. Before we all go nuts about a GOAT in the discus, let us not forget Al Oerter. Four successive gold medals in the Olympics (56-68), each time beating out throwers who were (heavily) favored over him.

I was there right behind the net. You can hear my hooray at 2:12. It was hard to see exactly where it landed and he didn't react at all to his throw. The measuring guy had to step back a foot or two to catch where it landed. Once they announced how far it went, the small crowd erupted in applause and excitement

Great to see a world record from this era broken and hope more of them will be exceeded but unfortunately some of the other world records from this period will not be broken any time soon.

Well, that throw is obviously very good, but so is the wind.

Wild This guy just broke one of the tuffest WR’s in a random ass meeting

"seemingly out of the blue" is a big stretch, the whole throwing community has known about this guy for a while, and almost everyone thought he'd be the one to break the record... and they were right.

Proudest dad moment ever!!

dont get me wrong, this is a very impressive throw and set of throws, but the conditions in which they were throwing were unreal. he was practically throwing in a wind tunnel

Always a good day to see a 1980s WR go down Does that mean the athletes today aren’t using PEDs of course not however there’s no way they can be using it to the levels of the 1980s when they had *zero* out of competition testing in the 80s

Once again you demonstrate your love of track and field with a video like this! Thank you.

Thank you!!!

very smooth rotation with no overbalancing at all from what i could see

The world record was insane, but IMO the 6 throws over 70 tells much, much more of the potential of the 21 year old KID. He's going to be one of the most dominating figures in athletics in the coming years. HIs technique is without peer, like DuPlantis in Pole Vault.

I did NOT expect that WOW

Looks and sounds like a strong wind in that video.

The guy has strength and speed and balance and smoothness, all to excess. This is THE technique for youngsters and established throwers alike to copy.

That his own father owns the Olympic record is mind blowing. I cannot wait to watch that at the Olympics this summer!

I would not say the record was totally unexpected given Alekna's performance in Berkeley one week earlier and Perez setting a tremendous PB one day earlier at Ramona.

His Father IS NOT his Coach. He has a US and a Lithuania Coach (his Father stays away from it by maintaining a respectful distance and probably an 'eye' on things).

THANK YOU TRP

Literally he followed his dad’s footsteps to archive this. His dad must be so proud of him so as our country 🤍

3:25 - "The discus is almost impossible to see during its full flight (as it leaves and re-enters the atmosphere)". . Incredible throw, definitely want to see more of him in action.

All good. Let's enjoy this moment!

great but what about the wind we see back on the net?

So awesome to see this! Also to see it happen at a small meet and some pretty harsh wind. So now the question is, who breaks the hammer world record? Because that's now the oldest record in men's track.

Incredible achievement 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Amazing. But interesting question. It was clearly super windy. Whilst there's no wind limitations in the event, does a headwind help give lift and distance? For all my time in the sport i was never a discus thrower so would be interested to know if there is any impact from wind speed and direction that you get from being on an open field like this compared to a stadium with much less wind.🤔

Imagine getting that underwhelming of a reaction after breaking a 30 year world record

Absolutely insane

Was that video of the actual throw? Cause that wind is crazy! Look at his shirt and the net. ???

i'd love to know the wind components of both throws tbh

Great that publicity is given to this performance, lease note that the wind conditions were optimal in Ramona. Six of the first eight set personal bests

That's mental!

More throwing coverage please!

It is weird to see a WR broken on something that looks like a local school field by an athlete wearing a regular black t-shirt.

I have to remind that the previous world record holder was from USSR! And record was improved 2 OR 3 metres! Big respect from Russia and Ukraine!

Most big discus throws are done in open fields like this with favourable winds. It's unlikely we'll get that distance in the Olympic stadium to have fantastic angles and shots of such a throw. Still, we can hope. I think 3 throwers might all beat the current Olympic record in Paris.

3:25 only negative part...what about the wind?!

Many in the discus community had a feeling this was coming, especially after Perez threw 73m in the womens discus the day before. The conditions at Ramona were perfect for discus with strong head winds adding to the distances if the athlete was skilled enough to flight the throws correctly. Alekna will throw further in the future.

That's the most scuffed, DIY world record cottage I've ever seen. Some respect for the throwers is due.

It will be interesting to see when and where the 74 m will be broken in a stadium, with an auidience and visible to all of us through a real camera. I also cannot stop thinking why no wind is concidered not suitable for WR as in sprintrunning and longjumping? It surley seems to affect results markedly.

The beginning of a discus dynasty. I think the unique combination of youth and pedigree, topped by familial mentorship will see the record put away for eons!!! There is a lot to anticipate here and certainly a lot to discuss!!!

As an Aussie excited by Matt Denny throwing nearly 70m on the weekend for a new national record. Awesome to see a bunch throwing over 70 in Paris.

probably had an +11m/s wind. still an impressive series, though.

What’s crazy is he’s only 21 …that’s only 4 in dog years!!!

It’s actually 74.41 meters. The mark was measured with steel tape after the throw.

Great form, long levers, very fast in the circle, equals great results.

38 years to break the record of a doping cheater from the GDR! At last!

Looked like an all-comers meet. Thought for a minute it might have been at one of those legendary wind storms in Salinas, CA.

What are your thoughts on Daniel Haugh’s recent WR Weight Throw?

Looks like a windy day, I'm sure it assisted the throw

News outlets have the CNN story showing him in wind-up for a throw in a stadium LOL. I wonder if they even watched the actual WR throw since no link was given.

Thank you for doing the extra effort with getting the pronunciation of athletes' names right. I doubt most non-German speakers would get the "umlauted" u in "Jürgen" right.

People rambling about the wind factor. In stadium at those hieghts, you also have strong winds...

Anyone measuring wind speed there? Looks like the net is flapping like mad.

“On this special day….” Yeah, it was special in 1986, alright. They really dialed in his performance enhancing drug regimen for that day.

I´m a big sportsfan and I respect great performances. Unfortunately the wind plays an important role when throwing a discuss. Normally discuss competitions are taking place in a stadium, that prevents the wind from blowing strongly. In this case, they were throwing on a plane field with very strong winds. I think that this was a huge advantage und explains the series of very long throws. We will see what Alekna can do in a stadium at the olympics... But nevertheless big respect.

A record set with "good wind" in play could ONLY be broken in the similarly good wind, as it was very rightly done! The Olympic record is doomed this year, IMO.

🤔🤔 East Germany. Wonder what they were taking in the 80’s. Come let’s get real. That difference in the record only can be attributed to one thing. I’ll let you guess

We should have seen this coming, he is so young, obviousky he was going to become greater. This is only the start

His form is excellent. The speed of his last rotation is crazy.

Didn't realize Emilio Estevez threw discus

as a massive fan of discus and a thrower, I couldn’t be more happy for him 🎉

It is going to be tough to beat those genes. This boy might go 75 meters this season.

Strong family.

Hello! The video lack information about the race where the record went down.

He made it in a windy oklahoma field lol , this video is so delusional.

Paris will be on fire 🔥 🔥 this summer.

there seemed to be a lot of wind and no stadium to shelter the javelin - maybe had an affect? Jackie Joyner Kersey's world heptathlon record is 3.5% more than the next highest all time scorer - Carolina Cruft

That 73.09 from Perez should effectively be considered the clean women's world record, given the situations of the 8 women currently ranked ahead of her from the cold-war era.

Daaannnggg!!!!

How can you say that this is the greatest WR of the year - it's only the beginning of May!

I love his technique

It seems to me that the wind was way above 2m/s. doesn't wind count for discus throw???

I'm very curious how much wind effects the discus? Is it possible these throws so far ahead of the others are because of wind?

You're leaving out a big factor. He is a great thrower and you could foresee this happening but the discus is an aerodynamic event. The top throws always come with good headwinds or right quartering wind. This wouldnt have happened in dead air. It would still have been a great throw but 10 to 15 feet less. This is why olympic discus gold medals are nowhere near world records because it's thrown inside a stadium. You'll see this at the Paris Olympics. The winning mark will not be above 230 probably. He is still the world's best thrower today but wind is a factor. Of course all the other throwers that day had that wind too.

It's great to see one of these old dodgy world records get broken, but would be nice if the new one wasn't set "on a local field" shot from a bad angle where you can't really see anything (in 2024...)

Is that the worst filmed record ever?

What said the anemometer?

There's an event to watch in Paris.

When can we expect a video about Abby Steiner at the Tom Jones meet?

Record wasn’t out of the blue! After the Perez 73m with crazy winds I stayed up till 1AM to watch this because whispers were going around be would throw a WR!

Talk about proud parents!!

That’s so sick that it was his father with the OR. Hopefully Alekna the Younger can get it done on the big stage.

1:41 "...with only 3 athletes eclipsing 71 meters" ECLIPSING? 71.86 and 71.00 match or barely exceed 71, but they do not ECLIPSE 71. Buy yourself a thesaurus!

We'll see if he can repeat this???In a strong headwind this will be a different sport. Swedish Ricky Bush threw in training and unofficial competitions 75-80 m in Malmö's windy training arena. What time had Bolt made in 10 s of tailwind?????

I would like to see Ryan Crouser shift from the shot put to the discus and go for the WR! 😅

Saying that between 2016 and 2023 only 8 athletes beat the 70 m mark and 3 beating 71 m is misleading. Sure it's true, but a lot of sports have high result times and low result times. Between 2010 and 2014 only Thorkildsen managed to beat 90 m in javelin with 2012-2014 no one eclipsing 90 m. Then in 2017 4 athletes beat 90 m. The WR 98.48 seemed to be safe until 2020 when Vetter threw 97.76. But last year no one again beat 90 m.

Ohh, this really counts as an WR? Wouldn't wind be much better in an open field like this compared inside a stadium?

If Jurgen had that wind or thrown at Oklahoma when he throw his world record can anyone image how much further it would have gone