On Wednesday, the Lithuanian Athletics Federation Cup competition took place in Kaunas, at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium, where the athletes shared as many as 12 prizes. Juozas Baikštys , who returned to the competition after a year’s break, triumphed in the high jump (2.20 m), and Olympian Ieva Gumbs , who wants to throw the discus 60 meters in each competition, reached the goal – the winner’s tool flew 61.01 m.
Next week, on June 26-29, the European Team Championship will take place in Madrid (Spain), where the Lithuanian national team will compete in the top division. At the competition in Kaunas, the athletes continued their preparation for the championship, but there were some who were just starting the summer season. One of them was the high jumper J. Baikštys, who overcame the height of 2.20 m and won the victory against the Olympian Adrijus Glebauskas (2.15 m). The winner did not start in the competition for more than a year, but this did not prevent him from achieving the best result of the Lithuanian season and winning the second LLAF Cup in his career.
“Very good emotions. I missed the winter season due to injury, and as the summer season approached, due to competitions, there were all kinds of thoughts – when to start, when to finish. Only recently I decided that I would participate in this competition, so I didn’t expect much. However, the last two training sessions have shown that the result can be quite good. The result achieved is satisfying, of course, 2.24 m would satisfy even more, but today it was important to win. The most important thing is that I am healthy now,” said J. Baikštys.
J. Baikštys, who took 24th place at the European Championships a year ago, ended the season at that time: “In the summer, I spent time with friends, fished, and in the autumn I started training children. I always trained, every day, so I wasn’t lost anywhere, even though I didn’t start in the competition.”
The last time the athlete climbed to such a height was in 2022, when he managed to overcome a height of 2.25 m twice. The season started on a good note, and now the athlete’s eyes are on the European Team Championship, which will be the main start of J. Baikščis this year: “This year I don’t set many goals for myself. I hope that I have made it to the European Team Championship, which is very important to me. The other important championship is the world championship, but I have very little chance of getting there. The most important thing is to enjoy, be healthy and participate well in competitions.”
After announcing before the LLAF Cup competition that she always wants to throw at least 60 meters, I. Gumbs passed this mark for the first time this year. After five throws, her best result was 57.75 m, but on the sixth attempt she managed to fly the discus in 61.01 m. This is the best result of the Lithuanian season, which brought her the sixth LLAF Cup in her career. In addition, Sonata Rudytė (48.33 m), who was in second place, managed to overtake her by almost 13 meters.
“It was difficult to participate, maybe the gap between the competitions was too big, so we had to get in. The shots were technical, but slow and there was no competitive adrenaline. For the last attempt, I asked everyone to clap up, which helped me to start and make a good shot. I am very happy that I managed to record such a result, but I would like to be able to lose so much on the first attempt,” said I. Gumbs.
The discus thrower will take part in the bronze event of the World Athletics continental tour in Warsaw (Poland) on Sunday, and next week he will represent Lithuania in two European Team Championship events – discus throw and ball push: “Today’s result gives a lot of motivation, because it shows that we are working well and are on the right track. I’m looking forward to the next race on Sunday in Warsaw and I hope there will be more competition, a better competitive atmosphere and an even better result. Preparations for the European Team Championship continue.”
In the 100 m race, the LLAF Cup was won by Ema Rupšytė (11.78 seconds), in the 800 m race the fastest were Dariuš Križanovskij (1 min. 55.23 sec.) and the Latvian Justine Vanaga (2 min. 16.10 sec.), the 1500 m distance was first overcome by Samanta Machankovaitė (4 min. 41.67 sec.), and in the 3000 m distance Lukas Tarasevičius won and achieved the best result of the Lithuanian season (8 min. 49.07 sec.).
In the 100 m hurdles, Gabija Klimukaitė won the third consecutive LLAF Cup (14.00 seconds), and Edgaras Benkunskas triumphed in the 110 m hurdles (14.83 seconds). The victory in the long jump event was won by Urtė Kščenavičiūtė (6.03 m), the ball was pushed farthest by Mindaugas Jurkša (16.65 m), and in the hammer throw event the best result of the Lithuanian season was achieved and even the tenth LLAF Cup was won by Tomas Vasiliauskas (69.16 m).
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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
