World T&F Championships: Cal Teen-Ager Mykolas Alekna Ready for the Big Stage

The recent freshman has the attention of top discus throwers competing at Eugene.

Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh stands 6-foot-9 and is the only man in the world with three throws of at least 70 meters in the discus this year. So he’s not easily impressed.

Ceh, 23, got his first look at Cal freshman Mykolas Alekna last month at the Diamond League meet at Stockholm, Sweden. Ceh won the competition with a mark of 229 feet, 9 inches (70.02 meters), but Alekna was second at 229-0 (69.81), which beat reigning Olympic champion Daniel Stahl and was the longest throw ever by a teen-ager.

The world’s three top-ranked throwers will collide again at the World Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, with prelims on Sunday and the finals on Tuesday.

Mykolas Alekna dominated his event at the college level this season / Cal Athletics

At 19, Alekna is the obvious underdog. But he has the attention of his more experienced rivals.

“It was the first time I’d seen him, the first time I’d seen how he throws, and the first time I’d competed against him,” Ceh said, referring to the Stockholm meet. “The kid is young and talented. At his age I was throwing 63 meters. I’m impressed.”

Ceh’s best mark as a teen-ager actually was 62.03 meters in 2018. That’s nearly 26 feet shy of Alekna’s best at the same age.

Having just completed his freshman season at Cal — where he broke the all-time collegiate record — Alekna has shot up to No. 31 on the all-time world list.

Among the players in the top-30, the average age when they made their best throw is 28.1 years old. Alekna’s father, two-time Olympic champion Virgilius Alekna, was 28 when he threw 242-5 (73.88) to rank No. 2 all-time.

Ceh welcomes what he expects will be a fierce competition.

“I think it’s awesome,” he said. “We have so many guys over 69 meters, 68 meters, 67 meters. I think everybody gets so motivated by it. It would be different if one person was over 71 meters and the next was 65 meters. That would be boring.”

Stahl, 29, will arrive in Eugene with the confidence of the defending champion at this competition. He’s the world leader this season with a mark of 234-5 (71.47) and has a lifetime best 235-9 (71.86), which is tied for fourth all-time.

“Now I’ve won the World Championships and Olympics, I feel no pressure,”Stahl recently told worldathletics.org. “The younger guys have the pressure now. I’m just going to go there and be calm and do my best, and throw as far as I can.”

Track and Field News projects Alekna to win the bronze medal on Tuesday, pegging Ceh as the winner and Stahl as the silver medalist.

Mykolas Alekna and coach Mo Saatara celebrate / Photo by Derrick Tuskan

Cal throws coach Mo Saatara isn’t concerned Alekna will feel stressed.

“With the World Championships, Olympic Games . . . any major championship, the first is to qualify for the finals. You’re not going to look past that. Get to the finals,” Saatara said.

“At that point, the goal is going to be obviously to compete as best as he can. In those situations, there’s certain performance levels you need to get on the podium. The main focus is the same as always — be stable, have a good competition and execute what you’re done in practice. We’ll see where that takes us.”

As the son of one of history’s greats in the event, Alekna perhaps has a built-in genetic edge. But that doesn’t fully explain his success at such a young age.

“A lot of it has to do with, obviously, he’s extremely talented for the discus,” Saatara said. “But he’s really taken advantage of his abilities. He’s been very meticulous and methodical about moving forward. . . . He’s maximized his performance with his particular abilities.”

Cover photo of Mykolas Alekna

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo