On June 18, the Lithuanian Athletics Federation Cup competition will take place at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas. More than 130 participants will compete in 12 events, and since the competition is included in the World Athletics calendar, athletes will be able to meet the norms and collect ranking points for the World Championships in September.
The list of participants includes 2 Olympians. In the high jump sector, the participant of the Tokyo Olympic Games Adrijus Glebauskas, who recorded the best result of the season last weekend (2.16 m), and the discus throw sector will be entered by the participant of the Paris Olympic Games Ieva Gumbs. The latter returns to the competition after a three-week break, and in the last competition, which distributes ranking points, the athlete started almost 2 months ago.
I. Gumbs has been preparing for the summer season in the United States of America for many years. According to the discus thrower, she usually spends 2-3 months across the Atlantic, and this year the preparation phase was hampered by various illnesses: “In the spring, I struggled with diseases that knocked me off track. I wanted to meet the World Cup norm, but I didn’t succeed. However, now I feel good and I am ready for the summer season.
I like to go to the USA in the spring, because here the competition season starts earlier than in Europe, I have good equipment, infrastructure and other conditions. Both the preparation phase and participation in the competition take place there. This year I started working with a new barbell coach, so it will be interesting to watch the results.”
In the now world-famous competition in Ramona (USA), the athlete significantly improved her personal record (64.98 m) last year and fulfilled the norm of the Olympic Games, while this year the norm of the World Championships (64.50 m) remained untouched. In Mykolas Alekna’s world record competition, I. Gumbs’ discus flew 59.04 m, and two weeks later, also in Ramona, the Lithuanian threw the tool 58.39 m and 58.57 m.
“I don’t evaluate my performances in competitions like that. It was a really difficult start to the season, because I was expecting better results. Due to illness, we had to change our preparation plans, at that time the discus was very difficult to fly in training, there was a lack of explosive power, and the equipment was lost. However, my goals do not change – I want to throw the discus over 60 meters in every competition. I hope that this trend will start on Wednesday in the LLAF Cup competition, and then start in the bronze level competitions in Warsaw (Poland) and the European Team Championship,” said I. Gumbs positively.
The athlete, who will start competing in Lithuania after a break of almost a year, said that she improved her throwing technique during the preparation phase, and she takes the LLAF Cup competition seriously: “In camps and training, we were looking for the right technique that could help us achieve more. We have changed some things and, I think, we have found a balance. Now all the details are put together, I am improving the movement and trying to connect everything. I take the upcoming competition seriously, because I performed well in it last year (59.92 m). True, the best shot was crossed, so now I hope to stay in the sector and start the main season well and collect ranking points.”
Lithuania will compete in the highest division at the European Team Championship in Madrid (Spain) on June 26-29, and I. Gumbs will compete in two competitions – ball pushing and discus throw. “I am very much looking forward to this championship, because there will be a serious company with which I want to compete. I know all the participants, and the competition itself will become the introduction to the World Championship. I hope to perform as well as possible in Madrid,” said the Olympian.
Although the discus thrower does not yet have a direct ticket to the World Championships in Tokyo (Japan) on September 13-21, she has no doubts about getting there: “I feel calm, I trust the training plan and I am absolutely sure that I will get there. Especially since there will be more participants (36) than in last year’s Olympic Games (32), and my inner instinct says that I will be there. I’m really looking forward to the competition that will help me move up in the ranking system. In addition, I hope to maintain good form throughout the season.”
The LLAF Cup competition at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium will start on Wednesday at 15:45. Entrance to the stadium is free. Men will start: in the 800 m, 3000 m, 110 m barrier run, high jump, ball push, hammer throw, and women in the 100 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 100 m barrier run, long jump, discus throw.
Immediately after this event, the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event “Cosma Cup” will take place in the stadium. It will start at 6:00 p.m., many Lithuanian and foreign stars will appear in the stadium, and the men’s discus throw event will attract the most attention, where Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl, world and European champion Andrius Gudžius and Olympian Martynas Alekna will start. For the first time in Lithuania, 113 athletes from six different continents will compete in the competition, which has received such international recognition, and the prize fund reaches almost 40 thousand euros. Euro.
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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
