On Saturday, the new season of the “Diamond League” began in Shanghai (China). In the first stage, two representatives of Lithuania also competed – discus thrower Martynas Alekna and runner Gabija Galvydytė. For her, it was the debut of the Diamond League.

The debut will be recorded in the history of Lithuania – Gabija completed the 1500 m in 3 minutes 59.74 seconds and became the first Lithuanian in history to run this distance in less than 4 minutes. At the same time, the Lithuanian record (4 min. 00, 24 sec.), which belonged to Laimutė Baikauskaitė, which had existed for 38 years, was achieved at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

Gabia’s previous personal record was 4 minutes 00.71 seconds. By the way, the athlete also holds the Lithuanian records of 800, 1000, 1500 m and a mile in the short course.

Already next Saturday (May 23) Gabija will also participate in the second stage of the “Diamond League” in China, in the city of Xiamen.

Martynas Alekna threw the discus 59.89 m in Shanghai with the best attempt and took ninth place, as in his debut “Diamond League” in Morocco in May 2024.

Photo by Alfredas Pliadis