On Sunday, the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (Japan) ended with the men’s discus throw event. As many as 3 Lithuanians participated in it – Mykolas Alekna won silver, Andrius Gudžius won the sixth place, and Martynas Alekna took the seventh place.
The discus throw final was unusual because it lasted several hours. Shortly before the start of the match, it started to rain in the stadium, so the competition was stopped after the first throw. In the end, they were resumed after more than two hours, but even then the conditions for throwing the discus were difficult.
A. Gudžius, who participated in the sixth World Championship and the fifth final, threw the discus 63.43 m (x-63.43-x-x-r) in the best attempt. After a long physical and psychological test, the world and European champion A. Gudžius alluded to the fall and the specifics of the sector: “Some kind of space, nonsense. It shouldn’t have been like that, but the medal is back for Lithuania. The results of all three of us should have been better. I’m talking about the conditions that were in the qualification with the fast sector. For the first time in my life, I encounter such a sector that is dry and perfect, and when you drip at least a little water, it is impossible to stand. The glue on my shoes helped me. You have to hit a lot, because that one throw was good, and the glue didn’t hold for the other shots because of the moisture. During the warm-up, I shook very badly, a bump appeared on my leg. He barely managed to walk and now his leg hurts badly, but he did an ultrasound, so nothing broke, everything is fine.”
The delegate of the competition offered the participants of the final three choices – to continue the competition now, throw the discus tomorrow or not to organize the final at all and not to distribute medals. Practically unanimously, the athletes voted to continue the final now. According to A. Gudžius, he would have agreed to compete on Monday as well, and the delegates of the competition said that they had not yet encountered such a situation: “Either you participate or you do not participate. The championship could have ended without discus throwing awards, the second option was that we all go and throw, and the third option was to combine tomorrow with flights for everyone. Maybe I wanted to do it tomorrow, because I could barely walk with my leg submerged and frozen. There wasn’t much enthusiasm to go back to the same rain. I made one throw and I knew I wouldn’t throw 66 meters. Matthew Denny collapsed, Luke Weisshaidinger finished lying down. In the first attempts, it was very bad. As far as we talked to the delegates of the competition, they said that they had never seen such a situation. We have never seen such a thing either. Maybe they will start paying attention after this competition and make the industry standard.”
After the difficult final, A. Gudžius paid tribute not only to Mykolas Alekna, who has Olympic silver, two World Championship silver and one bronze, European Championship gold and bronze in his collection, but also to Daniel Stahlis, who won the gold medal. The Olympic and world champion from Sweden rose to first place in the last throw, and his discus flew as much as 70.47 m.
“If there were dry weather conditions, it would definitely have high results. Not one would have thrown 70 meters. That situation put a foot in Mykolas’ foot, but he doesn’t go home empty-handed. He is still young, and the dowry is enormous for him. He always wants to, but I think he will make up for it in two years and there will be nothing for him to do at all. Both Daniel and Mykolas are athletes of the next level today. They dominate, they can throw the discus far in any conditions. Daniel’s last throw was in the dry sector, but even after that shot was removed, the result was at the highest level. Next year, the European Championship will be very interesting,” said A. Gudžius.
The 34-year-old Lithuanian participated in the sixth World Championship, although he was still lying on the operating table in November last year. A. Gudžius, who underwent rehabilitation after a back hernia operation, not only went to Tokyo this year, but also represented Lithuania in the European Team Championship in the top division. In addition, he won a bronze medal at the Lithuanian Championship: “Considering all the circumstances when the doctors told me to stay calm this year, I want to thank the surgeons of Kaunas Clinics for putting me on my feet. I want to thank both my physiotherapist Erik, who works with me in Kaunas, and the national team physiotherapist Mantas, who literally put me on my feet today. Without him, there would be no sixth place.”
When asked about the end of his career, the discus thrower did not give a specific answer and said that his mission is to represent Lithuania solidly: “I don’t know, I don’t want to say publicly that that’s it. Today, I think I didn’t disappoint Lithuania, and when I see that I can’t represent Lithuania honestly and participate in the finals, I’ll say thank you for the opportunity, I had a good time. I will participate 100 percent in next year’s European Championship.”
Next year, the Old Continent Championships will take place in Birmingham (Great Britain) in mid-August. This will be the seventh European Championship of A. Gudžius. The most successful athlete appeared in 2018 in Berlin (Germany), when he won gold. The longest discus of the Lithuanian was in 2018 in Stockholm (69.59 m), and this season’s record was recorded in Kaunas (66.86 m).
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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
