Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

  • 5 August 2024 (qualification)
    7 August 2024 (final)
Winning distance70.00 ORMedalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rojé Stona  Jamaica
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mykolas Alekna  Lithuania
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Matthew Denny  Australia
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The men's discus throw at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 5 and 7 August 2024.

Summary

Still only 21 years old, Mykolas Alekna dominated the season, setting the new world record of 74.35 m (243 ft 11 in). On that windy day in Ramona, Oklahoma, he threw three throws beyond 72 metres and all six over 70, the most remarkable series in history. He can set his eyes on breaking the Olympic Record set in 2004 by Virgilijus Alekna, his father. Over the previous two years, Mykolas has already collected World silver and bronze. Daniel Ståhl was the defending champion and 2023 Gold Medalist. Lukas Weißhaidinger is the returning bronze medalist. Kristjan Čeh was 2022 World Champion and 2023 silver medalist. Andrius Gudžius got bronze in 2022. #2 on the world list this season is Alex Rose,[1][2] the #11 performer in history (Ståhl and Čeh are tied at #5).

In the final, the second thrower in the order, Čeh threw 67.27m. Matt Denny threw 66.89m and Andrius Gudžius got a 66.45m before Alekna tossed it to take the lead. In the second round, moved into second with 68.42m. Denny took the lead with 69.31m and then, as expected, Alekna beat his father's Olympic Record, by 8cm, throwing 69.97m. The networks had pictures of the one year old with his dad, his age when dad set the previous record. Of the leaders, only Rojé Stona was able to improve in the third round, his 66.16m barely moved him into 7th place to get three more throws. On his next throw, Stona threw 70 m (229 ft 7 in) to take the lead by 3cm and at the same time hit the magic 70 meter mark in an enclosed, windless stadium. After beating the Olympic Record his father had held for 20 years, Alekna barely held it for 20 minutes. Alekna took three more attempts but couldn't catch Stona.[3]

Background

The men's discus throw has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the inaugural edition in 1896. This was the 30th time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics.

Records

Prior Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records are as follows.

Global records before the 2024 Summer Olympics
Record Athlete (Nation) Distance (m) Location Date
World record  Mykolas Alekna (LIT) 74.35[4] Ramona, United States 14 April 2024
Olympic record  Virgilijus Alekna (LIT) 69.89 Athens, Greece 23 August 2004
World leading  Mykolas Alekna (LIT) 74.35[5] Ramona, United States 14 April 2024
Area records before the 2024 Summer Olympics[6]
Area Record Athlete (Nation) Distance (m)
Africa (records)  Frantz Kruger (RSA) 70.32
Asia (records)  Ehsan Hadadi (IRI) 69.32
Europe (records)  Mykolas Alekna (LIT) 74.35 WR
North, Central America

and Caribbean (records)

 Ben Plucknett (USA) 71.32
Oceania (records)  Alex Rose (SAM) 71.48
South America (records)  Mauricio Ortega (COL) 70.29

Olympic Record broken

Virgilijus Alekna's 20-year Olympic record of 69.89 meters, set in Athens 2004, was broken twice at in the finals — first by his son Mykolas with a throw of 69.97 meters, and then by Rojé Stona with a throw of 70.00 meters.[7]


Record Athlete (Nation) Distance (m) Attempt
Olympic Record  Mykolas Alekna (LIT) 69.97 2
Olympic record  Rojé Stona (JAM) 70.00 4


Qualification

For the men's discus throw event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. 32 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by throwing the entry standard of 67.20 m or further or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.[8][9]

Results

Qualification

The qualification was held on 5 August, starting at 10:10 (UTC+2) for Group A and 11:35 (UTC+2) for Group B in the morning. 32 athletes qualified for the first round by qualification time or world ranking.[10]

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 A Mykolas Alekna  Lithuania x 67.47 67.47 Q
2 A Matthew Denny  Australia 64.27 66.83 66.83 Q
3 A Lukas Weißhaidinger  Austria 66.72 66.72 Q
4 B Clemens Prüfer  Germany 66.36 66.36 Q
5 A Traves Smikle  Jamaica 59.18 65.91 65.91 q
6 B Rojé Stona  Jamaica x 65.32 63.30 65.32 q
7 A Ralford Mullings  Jamaica 65.18 x x 65.18 q
8 A Daniel Ståhl  Sweden 65.16 63.36 63.98 65.16 q
9 B Kristjan Čeh  Slovenia x 64.80 64.56 64.80 q
10 B Andrius Gudžius  Lithuania 60.83 64.07 64.07 q
11 B Alin Firfirică  Romania 61.98 x 63.66 63.66 q
12 B Alex Rose  Samoa 62.88 x 60.94 62.88 q
13 B Connor Bell  New Zealand 59.76 62.88 x 62.88
14 A Sam Mattis  United States 62.66 x x 62.66
15 B Philip Milanov  Belgium 60.28 x 62.44 62.44
16 A Martin Marković  Croatia 61.22 62.31 61.62 62.31
17 A Andrew Evans  United States 60.15 x 62.25 62.25
18 A Mauricio Ortega  Colombia x 61.65 61.97 61.97
19 A Lolassonn Djouhan  France 61.93 61.72 x 61.93
20 A Nicholas Percy  Great Britain 59.87 61.81 58.89 61.81
21 B Miká Sosna  Germany x x 61.81 61.81
22 B Joseph Brown  United States x 61.68 x 61.68
23 A Francois Prinsloo  South Africa 51.64 61.35 x 61.35
24 B Lawrence Okoye  Great Britain 61.17 60.40 x 61.17
25 B Juan José Caicedo  Ecuador 60.99 60.44 x 60.99
26 A Mario Díaz  Cuba 60.05 60.92 59.63 60.92
27 B Victor Hogan  South Africa x 60.11 60.78 60.78
28 A Martynas Alekna  Lithuania 58.34 57.53 58.66 58.66
29 B Tom Reux  France x 56.88 58.22 58.22
A Henrik Janssen  Germany x x x NM
B Oussama Khennoussi  Algeria x x x NM
B Claudio Romero  Chile x x x NM

[11]

Final

The final was held on 7 August, starting at 20:25 (UTC+2) in the evening.[10]

All three medalists posted some of the longest throws in Olympic history, surpassing Virgilijus Alekna's 69.89 meters (Athens 2004) and 69.3 meters (Sydney 2000), and Lars Riedel's 69.4 meters (Atlanta 1996).[12]


Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rojé Stona  Jamaica 61.66 65.20 66.16 70.00 x x 70.00 OR, PB
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mykolas Alekna  Lithuania 68.55 69.97 x 68.88 68.49 x 69.97
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Matthew Denny  Australia 66.89 69.31 68.39 x 69.15 66.44 69.31
4 Kristjan Čeh  Slovenia 67.27 68.41 x 66.36 66.34 x 68.41
5 Lukas Weißhaidinger  Austria 60.02 67.54 64.52 x 64.43 x 67.54
6 Clemens Prüfer  Germany 65.79 65.58 65.58 67.41 x x 67.41
7 Daniel Ståhl  Sweden 64.97 66.95 64.06 66.00 x x 66.95
8 Andrius Gudžius  Lithuania 66.45 65.02 x x x 66.55 66.55
9 Ralford Mullings  Jamaica 65.61 x x Did not advance 65.61
10 Traves Smikle  Jamaica 63.77 64.11 64.97 Did not advance 64.97
11 Alin Firfirică  Romania 64.45 63.00 62.84 Did not advance 64.45
12 Alex Rose  Samoa 60.07 61.89 x Did not advance 61.89

[3]

References

  1. ^ "Men's Discus Throw - Final extended start list" (PDF). Olympics. 7 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Discus Throw - men - senior - all - 2024".
  3. ^ a b "Men's Discus Throw - Final results" (PDF). Olympics. 7 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  4. ^ "All time Top lists – Senior – Discus throw men", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – Discus throw men", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  6. ^ "Records – Discus throw men". World Athletics. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  7. ^ McCarvel, Nick (2024-08-07). "Paris 2024 Athletics Men's Discus Throw: All Results as Roje Stona Wins the Gold Medal".
  8. ^ Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Road To | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  10. ^ a b "Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Men's Discus Throw - Qualification results" (PDF). Olympics. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  12. ^ "History of Olympic Results: Discus Throw – Men". Retrieved 2024-08-07.
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