As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to an end after more than a century, we count down the top 50 moments in University of California sports.
moment: Mikolas Alekna, who at age 19 became the youngest ever discus silver medalist at the 2022 World Championships, took his sport to a new level at the Oklahoma Throws Series this spring, breaking the 38-year-old world record on his fifth attempt of the day.
story: Mykolas Alekna was born in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, the son of two-time Olympic discus champion Virgil Alekna.
Mikolas will enroll at UC Berkeley in the fall of 2021 from the 700-year-old metropolis of 500,000 people and has since competed in Oslo, Rome, Marrakech, Stockholm and Munich.
He is expected to be one of the favorites to win the gold medal at this summer’s Paris Olympics.
In the summer of 2022, at age 19, he became the youngest ever silver medalist in the discus at the World Championships in Eugene Tracktown USA, and last year won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest.
But Alecena, who is redshirting this season in preparation for the Olympics, surpassed all of that on April 14 in Ramona, Oklahoma, a town of just 500 people located 30 minutes north of Tulsa along U.S. Highway 175.
At Millikan Stadium, aided by a legal wind that drew throwers into the tournament, Alekna waited until her fifth of six throws before unleashing the longest throw ever, a distance of 243 feet, 11 inches (74.35 meters).
The throwing record of 243 feet, 0 inches (74.08 meters), held by East Germany’s Jurgen Schulte, hadn’t been broken since 1986, 16 years before Alekna was born. In more than a century, no athlete younger than the 21-year-old University of California junior had broken the world record in the event.
“In a word: amazing!” UC throwing coach Mo Saatara said of Alekna’s performance, who finished with all six of her throws over 70 meters, a feat only achieved by two other athletes in the world this season.
“It was a great pitch, the conditions were great and the crowd was great,” Alekna said after the game. “I knew the conditions were good and I knew I could pitch there, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I just enjoyed the moment and it happened.”
* Top 50 Moments No.19:
* Top 50 Moments No.20: Double Perfection
The Top 50 list only considers specific acts that occurred while a team or athlete was enrolled at UC and does not include season-long or career-long accomplishments.
Leslie Mitchell of the California Bears History Twitter site helped select the top 50 moments.
Follow Cal Sports Report’s Jeff Faraudo on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
