On Friday, the three-day Lithuanian championship began at the blue Palanga stadium. Already on the first day, the stadium was full of impressive starts and emotional moments – 721 people attended the competition high jumper Airinė Palšytė returned from the day’s break, and Adas Dambrauskas, titled the fastest person in the country, broke the U23 agegroup record.

Waiting, excitement, adrenaline

“One word – determination,” answered perhaps the country’s most decorated track and field athlete, A. Palšytė, when asked to describe today’s start. After suffering a cruciate ligament and meniscus injury at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the athlete underwent three surgeries, and before the last one, she was unsure if she would be able to continue her professional career at all. After more than two years’ break, the jumper finally returned to competition, where she immediately defended her Lithuanian champion title. The national record holder was the only participant to clear a height of 1.75 m. Second place was shared by Urtė Baikštytė and Evelina Bukauskaitė, who each cleared 1.70 m.

“There is a saying: ‘Put yourself in a situation and somehow you’ll get out’ – I’ve been swimming in this event for 20 years, and one way or another, I thought I would succeed. Sometimes you need to lower your expectations. Maybe many think that this return must be some kind of grandiose. I am glad that I finally managed to take that first step and, at the same time, win the title. I don’t put much emphasis on the result now,” shares A. Palšytė after the competition. She adds that an ambitious dream helps her not to stop and fight even in the toughest moments, among other things.

“I have said many times that my goal is five Olympic Games. Very few managed to do this, especially in high jump. My goal has always been, one way or another, to be recorded in Lithuanian sports history books. I have already taken one step as long as I believe I still can, as long as I have inner ambitions and love for what I do, there will always be motivation to keep going,” summarizes the 34-year-old athlete.

Faster

The young national sprinter A. Dambrauskas is leaving an increasingly prominent mark in the history of Lithuanian athletics. He triumphed in the 100 m run, completing the distance in 10.26 seconds. This is a new Lithuanian U23 record. By the way, the 21-year-old athlete is rapidly approaching the adult record (10.14 seconds), which has belonged to Rytis Sakalauskas since 2011. Adas has been sharing the Lithuanian 60 m record with Kastytis Klimas for some time now – 6.62 seconds.

This time, Martynas Kolupaila (10.55 sec.) and Kostas Skrabulis (10.78 sec.) finished behind the sprinter. In the women’s 100 m sprint, Ema Rupšytė justified her status as the favorite. The winner completed the distance in 11.60 seconds. overtaking Ieva Šadžiūtė (11.77 seconds) and Akvilė Jonauskytė (11.83 seconds).

In the 400 m event, the gold medal was won by Modesta Justė Morauskaitė (53.39 seconds) and Lukas Sutkus (47.56 seconds).

Runner Simas Bertašius won his 43rd Lithuanian champion title in his career, this time triumphing in the 1500 m distance (3 minutes 46.08 seconds). In a similar women’s event, Auksė Linkutė became the Lithuanian champion (4 minutes 31.34 seconds).

In the longest distance – 10,000 m – Lithuanian champions were Lukas Tarasevičius (30 min 50.95 sec) and Laura Jegelevičiūtė (35 min 36.10 sec).

In the javelin throw sector, Edis Matusevičius dominated (82.86 m), with Orinta Navikaitė performing best among women (53.68 m). The hammer throw was the farthest by Tomas Vasiliauskas (68.25 m) and Radha Kučinskaitė (46.30 m).

Marius Vadeikis triumphed in the long jump (7.39 m). In the high jump – Juozas Baikštys (2.20 m).

On Friday, the men’s decathlon competition also began (after five events, Gvidas Jurkevičius leads with 3565 points), and 28 para-athletes competed according to their program.

Photo by Alfredas Pliadis