On July 11-12, the Lithuanian Youth (U20) Championship took place in Alytus, where more than 300 athletes competed. The participants had the opportunity to meet the norms for the European U20 Championship to be held in Tampere (Finland) on August 7-10, and ball pusher Matas Mikulėnas took advantage of this opportunity and won a ticket to the Old Continent Championship.
The athlete improved his personal record by more than 70 centimeters, and the demonstrated result (17.84 m) opened the door to the European Junior Championships. The norm of this competition in the shot put event is 17.80 m. It is impressive that all the qualifying attempts of the champion were behind the 17-meter mark (17.38-17.84-x-17.05-17.46-17.51).
“A very unexpected result. I thought I could demonstrate such a result, but the night before I felt a lot of excitement and I didn’t know if I would be able to perform well. When I made the best attempt, even my legs trembled in the sector. I surprised myself, I probably surprised coach Mantas Jusys too,” M. Mikulėnas said about the (un)expected result.
The Lithuanian will start in the international championship for the first time in his career, which was the main goal of the season: “I am very happy with the fulfilled standards, because this was my goal of the season – to participate in the European Championship. If I hadn’t achieved the goal, I would consider the season a failure. In Portugal, we managed to push far during the camp, so I’m glad that we were able to repeat that during the competition. I know that friends and club members will be there, and I will start thinking about the championship itself a couple of weeks in advance.”
The ball pusher, who became the Lithuanian champion for the first time in the summer season, emphasized the need to deal with the excitement and improve his technique: “I usually try to breathe and not think about anything, so I hope that I will be able to cope with the excitement in Finland as well. Psychology at my level does not yet have such a big effect, so it is precisely the technique that should be fixed, strengthened and strengthened by myself.”
In the javelin throw competition, Orinta Navikaitė became the Lithuanian champion, who improved her personal record. In the best attempt, the athlete threw the javelin 53.89 m (50.08-53.69-x-53.89-53.31-53.15). The European Championship standard in this event is 48.50 m, and the athlete has already fulfilled it before. In 2022, O. Navikaitė won bronze at the European Junior (U18) Championships, in 2023 she won fifth place at the European Youth Championships, and in 2024 she tried her hand at the World Youth Championships (20th place).
“I am happy with myself. Four shots over 53 meters promise a lot. I’m looking forward to the start of the European Championship and I hope to lose a lot there. With such a result, a really high place can be won. I’ll go there to fight, there’s no fear. There is adrenaline, excitement, but I am ready to fight and not give up,” O. Navikaitė shared her thoughts about the past and upcoming competitions.
This year, the tool launched by the javelin thrower flew over the 50-meter mark in all competitions, which surprised the champion herself: “I didn’t expect such a good season, because last year before the World Junior Championships, a shoulder injury that had to be treated was attacked. I am glad that everything is going in a good direction. We worked a lot and concentrated on the technique. In addition, we have corrected mistakes to avoid injuries. I would think that technique and patient work contributed to the improvement. We are very close with coach Terese Nekrošaitė , we talk a lot, we have good relations, everything is good and we are doing well.”
In Alytus, O. Navikaitė was thinking about the degree of sports master (54.00 m) and talked about the possibility of challenging Lithuanian record holder Liveta Jasiūnaitė in the future: “I was hoping for a master of sports. That result was getting closer and closer, but this time it was not possible to achieve it. However, we are planning to start in the Lithuanian Adult Championship, the Baltic Youth Championship, and later the European Youth Championship, so there are still competitions left. I’m still missing Liveta, I can’t compete at the moment, but I’m getting closer and I think we’ll be competitors in the future.”
The Lithuanian Junior Championship was completed with a bang by pole vaulter Kasparas Gustas, who practically improved the Lithuanian records of 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds and youth in the last competition of the competition. The athlete became a champion, overcame a height of 5.20 m and improved his personal record (previous – 5.17 m). The Lithuanian will also start at the European Junior Championships, and K. Gustas fulfilled the norm (5.12 m) back in winter.
“I didn’t come to this competition to set a personal record. I had encountered a problem that lasted for about a month and prevented me from making jumps. Before this championship, I had two races where I didn’t overcome the starting height, so I was nervous and psychologically affected. I consulted a lot with coach Rita Sadzevičienė and we solved the problem. We’ve tried a lot of solutions, but I’m happy that we’ve found the right one. Overcoming a height of 5.20 m, I made the third jump practically perfectly, but at first I didn’t even realize that I had jumped because I was touching the bar and thought it had fallen. It goes for itself, I didn’t expect to jump 5.20 m,” K. Gustas told about the problem and shared his emotions.
The athlete said that he was relaxed before the last jump, and the problem he managed to solve was related to technique and acceleration: “I was relaxed, I participated for fun, and the pressure was there, but it was positive. Before this competition, I couldn’t physically and psychologically make the jump, there was such a block. The coach noticed that when I run with a pole I swing forward a lot, so I started to stop doing it and run perpendicular.”
Last year, the athlete participated in the European Junior Championships, where he took 18th place. Before the start of the European Junior Championships, K. Gustas did not set any specific expectations for himself and spoke about the possibility of improving the Lithuanian record, which has belonged to Zigmas Biliūnas (5.40 m) since 1981: “In Finland I will try my best, but that does not mean that if you try, you will achieve the result. I want to feel good and participate well. I don’t think much about the national record. Maybe it will be a good result for Lithuania, but it is not what I would strive for at the end of my career.”
Martynas Kolupaila (100 m), Matas Janarauskas (400 m), Eva Aušraitė (200 m, 400 m), Arminas Ačas (discus throw), Joana Feodorovaitė (long jump), Aurėja Beniušytė (triple jump), Augustė Virbalaitė (javelin throw) have also fulfilled the standards for the European Junior Championships. The team can still be replenished until July 28, because it is possible to comply with the norms until this date.
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Photo by Darius Kibirkščis.
