On Thursday, July 10, the discus throw competition “To win the Vilnius City Mayor’s Cup” will take place at the Vilnius Vingis Park Athletics Stadium, organized by the sports club “Jusis Training”. World record holder Mykolas Alekna, who has just returned to Lithuania, Olympian Martynas Alekna and other discus throwers from Lithuania and abroad will appear in the competition.

In the discus throw competition, which is organized for the first time in Vingis Park, participants will be able to collect ranking points and strive for the norm (67.50 m) for the World Championships to be held in Tokyo (Japan) on September 13-21. Mykolas Alekna last participated in the competition in Vilnius, his hometown, in 2022, when he won an easy victory. The winner of the Olympic Games, World and European Championships will strive for victory this time as well, and before the professional competition, the discus throw challenge of famous Lithuanian people and the sprint competition for children aged 5-16 (30 m and 60 m) will also take place at the Vingis Park Stadium.

The celebration dedicated to the discus throw event will start at 6:30 p.m., and spectators will be able to watch the event in the stadium for free. In addition, the competition will be broadcast live on the portal Delfi.lt.

Mantas Jusis, the organizer of the competition and coach of Mykolas Alekna, Martynas Alekna, Gabrielė Aleknaitė and other track and field athletes, said that the idea of organizing such an event had been going on for a long time. It is expected that the competition will take place annually and will promote not only the best Lithuanian athletes, but also the sport itself.

M. Jusis, who shared the exclusivity of the event and the details of the organization, also spoke about the enormous competition in the discus throw competition, the new stage and changes of Mykolas’ career, Martynas’ ability and the main goal of the season, as well as about Gabrielė’s first attempts and achievements in the discus throw competition.

– Mantas, you are a coach, but this time you are playing the role of the organizer of the competition. How are you preparing for the event? , lengvoji.lt asked M. Jusys.

– I had come up with the idea a long time ago. The goal is to attract more people to the lightweight and discus throw. We will organize a children’s sprint competition, a discus throw challenge of famous faces and then we will invite everyone to stay and watch the professional competition. The preparations are going well, but we will see how we implement that idea.

About 150 children have registered for the sprint competition, but on Thursday they report rain, that is, such fear and anxiety as many of them will come. We plan to organize this event regularly and include various activities. And now the amateurs wrote that they would like to try to throw the disc and participate. Surely in the future there will be people who will want to compete against the main discus throw competition.

– What makes this competition unique? Was it difficult to invite participants?

– After a long break, Mykolas we drove in Vilnius. In addition, we are familiar with the people of Lithuania – Benas Lastauskas, Laurynas Suodaitis, the Mayor of Vilnius Valdas Benkunskas, Mantas Katleris, who is returning from his honeymoon, and others.

As for the participants, Andrius Gudžius did not know until the last day whether he would participate, because he had health problems after Madrid. In the end, it turned out that he would not participate. Daniel Jasinskis’ manager announced that the athlete got sick, so now I have to find two new shooters. There was also uncertainty about the children that we would not collect them, because the holidays have already begun.

– Since you see this event as an annual project, in your opinion, how much will it contribute to the popularization of athletics in Lithuania?

– I think that we will be a good example for Vilnius and the whole of Lithuania. It depends on how many people will come, but athletics is interesting for Lithuanians. I notice a great interest in the sport. We all need to do a joint action together, maybe include more competitions in the future – for example, sprint or javelin, because we have great javelin throwers. The desire is to organize a short, quick and beautiful event.

Undoubtedly, such an event also needs a good DJ and presenter to make the audience more interesting to watch. I have encountered situations when people are less oriented in the competition and do not know whether this result is good or not. It is important that the presenter presents the results, tells about the norm of the World Championship, which is now 67.50 m.

It is possible to attract sponsors in the future. Companies are not interested in supporting individual athletes because they are more focused on events, children or various initiatives. The idea is to offer sponsors a complete package, and then both the event and the club will feel the benefits.

– Right after the victory in the “Diamond League” stage, Mykolas Alekna returns and will participate in the competition. As a coach, what goals do you have for him? Will it be more of a training competition?

– Mykolas just returned from the trip, we trained on Tuesday and threw the discus easier in training. There is definitely no special preparation for this competition. The goal is to say goodbye to friends, Lithuanians and participate in the competition together with my brother. Mykolas has been participating in the competition, which took place in Vingis Park, for a long time. On this occasion, we have made flyers and the athletes will be happy to give autographs to everyone after the competition.

“Mykolas has entered the University of Oregon, and he will have a new coach across the Atlantic. Have you been in contact with him yet? To what extent did you participate in the decision-making process?

– On July 1, Mykolas signed an agreement with the university. I haven’t spoken to coach Brian Blutreich yet, but we followed each other on Instagram. Now I am busy organizing the competition, after which we will continue our preparations for the World Championship. I think we will also communicate with the old coach Mohamad Saatara. We get along very well with him, we have formed a really good relationship. Great coach.

Mykolas will go to Oregon in October, so we will contact the new coach. I know that the coach has a lot of athletes who are preparing for the World Championships, so he is busy too. Now I don’t want to interfere, but I really trust the coach and I know that he had and still has a lot of good shooters. Maybe we’ll add new exercises in training, and I’m always open to ideas.

Mykolo wanted a lot of universities, but only Oregon and Los Angeles could really meet the needs. The athlete discussed with both his parents and me, and finally made a decision himself. After all, he is an adult man, a world record holder. I think the right decision has been made, but it is important to note that Mykolas will only be there for a year, or rather 7-8 months.

– Mykolas communicates about a clear goal – to win the World Championship. Do you set the same goal and how do you evaluate the student’s season to this day?

– In the past, Mykolas was so spurtful, burning, but now, as far as I’m talking, it seems to have changed a bit. He is more mature, calmer. They react more calmly to situations and have more self-confidence. We had a training session, so I really liked seeing Mykolas so confident and calm. I hope that at the World Championship he will show that confidence and fight for the title. It won’t be easy to win this season because the discus throw has taken it to the next level. Kristjan Čeh threw the discus over 72 meters three times in one week, Matthew Denny also exceeded the 70-meter mark. Jamaican Ralford Mullings is a new star in the discus throw. It is stable, has good technique and makes strong progress. I would say that this is a new X factor that can fight for medals in Tokyo.

– This year, discus throwers show extremely high results, 23 World Championship standards have been met. What do you think has led to such an increase in results and even more increased competition?

– One shooter starts shooting far, while others have nothing to do. In 2019, this was the case in the ball pushing event, when American Ryan Crouser pushed the ball almost 23 meters, although at the time it seemed impossible. Later, several more athletes appeared, who pushed the ball about 23 meters.

Everything goes to the next level. Training systems are improving, new technologies are emerging. In the past, discus throwers had more power, they were slower, and now speed and technique dominate. Recently, I communicated with Romas Ubartas, and he told me that he played sports differently, everything was very different. Many things would be done differently now than before.

– Your pupil Martynas Alekna won the bronze medal at the European Throwing Cup this year, and recently set a season record in a competition in Kaunas. Is it capable of fulfilling the norm?

– Really capable. You need good conditions, wind, and Martynas has already thrown above the norm more than once in training. This season is going well, but it was a shock because the discus flew far in the camps, but a hip injury, groin and other health problems knocked him off track. I think we are on a good path, the discus is throwing well, we need to continue training. Now Mykolas has returned, so the motivation will be increased. The goal is not only to qualify for the World Championship, but also to make it to the twelfth, the final. If it succeeds, it would be a super season.

– On Friday, Gabrielė Aleknaitė became the Lithuanian Junior Champion. Were you surprised by the student’s victory and how she is doing in taking her first steps in the discus throw event?

– The victory was not surprising. Similarly, I thought that we would have to give up if we wanted to win. I was very surprised and liked that Gabrielė was thrown by her opponent, she was second for a while, but then she went to the sector, threw the discus even further and returned to the first place. It shows that inside the athlete has something and it is possible to achieve goals.

39 meters is not much, she also threw 42 meters in training, but you have to understand that Gabrielė has only been throwing the discus for 7 months. To this day, we learn a lot of things and it happens that they don’t get it or don’t know it. It seems that the movement itself is understood, but when it is necessary to perform it quickly, it is not always obtained. It happens that one day they throw perfectly, and the next no one gets it. I think that one good winter and summer is needed to have more stable machinery and to see opportunities. Now it is still difficult to predict the potential.

 

lengvoji.lt

Photo by Alfredas Pliadis