Olympic Medalist Track & Field Star Forced to Settle for Second as Heartbreak Unfolds at NCAA Championships

The HARDEST World Record in Track and Field was Finally Broken.” This was the title of the video that followed a 21-year-old track and field athlete doing the impossible. Jur­gen Schult’s men’s discus world record stood at 74.08 metres, set on June 6, 1986, in Neubrandenburg (then East Germany). Almost four decades later, this young athlete came toying with the disc into the throwing circle to break that record. On April 14, 2024, in Ramona, Oklahoma, he threw the disc for a distance of 74.35 m, breaking the record. Now, when a man of such stature enters the NCAATF, you expect him to win. But…

For Mykolas Alekna, the first time it was so nice, he had to do it twice. Same month, same place, just a year later. The World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Ramona, Oklahoma, did not just witness a world record but history as well. Alekna, now 22, threw the disc for 75.56 meters. Not only did he break the world record, but he also became the first track and field athlete to surpass the 75-meter mark. Now he must have won the NCAATF championship, right? Only if…

It takes a record to defeat the record holder, and that is exactly what happened at the final of the NCAATF discus throw finals. It was a battle of beasts and bests when Mykolas Alekna and Olympian Ralford Mullings of the University of Oklahoma went face to face. Alekna threw the disc at a distance of 66.77m. Jamaica’s Ralford Mullings broke the 33-year-old NCAA discus throw record, pushing the two-time world record holder to number 2.

Kamy Keshmiri of the University of Nevada in 1992 threw the disc for 67.06m, the meet record to this date, until the Jamaican threw it for 67.70m in the third round. Mullings also threw 67.48m in the fifth round before ending the competition with 69.31m.

 

Bad luck or bad juju?

Despite being a world record holder 2x over, Mykolas Alekna’s championship woes continue as he’s only able to record two legal throws in six attempts in the #NCAATF discus final, finishing second in 66.77m. pic.twitter.com/LZjxN6CmQH

— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) June 14, 2025

This report is developing…

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