Mykolas Alekna, the record-breaking son of an Olympic champion: ‘I wasn’t the most talented kid’

In a sport written about in ancient Greek literature, no one has thrown a discus as far as Mykolas Alekna. Not even his father, a two-time Olympic champion and a former Olympic record holder in the event, nor anyone in The Odyssey and The Iliad.

It was in April 2025 that Alenka became the first man to throw further than 75 meters in the discus, brilliantly twice breaking his own world record in Ramona, Okla., a small town known as ‘Throw Town’ because of its propensity to produce favorable conditions for throwing.

The event was not without controversy — a Swedish commentator said “weather doping” was a contributing factor to five men clearing 70m, such was the strength of the wind. But, as Alekna says, it was “all according to the rules” in event that has “no way to measure the wind.”

“I don’t really care what people say. I’m still happy with the record, and people still go there to try to set a new record, but no one has done it after me yet,” he says over a video call from his home in Lithuania.

Although Alenka, whose world record stands at 75.56m, is following in his father Virgilijus’s footsteps, he is carving his own path. His achievements certainly put him in the sporting prodigy category: At 19, he became the youngest men’s European discus champion; at 22, he broke a discus world record which had stood since 1986.

In winning silver at the Paris Olympics, he surpassed his father’s Olympic record of 69.89m by eight centimeters. And this week, the two-time world silver medalist competes at the European Championships in Birmingham, England, hoping to do something else his father never achieved — retain his European title.

Virgilijus’s Olympic record had stood for 20 years before his son and eventual 2024 Olympic gold medalist Roje Stona surpassed the mark in Paris. Has his success surprised his father, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic champion?

“For sure,” says Alekna. “I don’t think anyone expected me to do this well because I started a little later. I wasn’t maybe the most talented kid at the start, but then later, I progressed really fast.”

Mykolas Alekna competing at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, where he won silver. (Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)

Born in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, the 23-year-old idolized his father, but as a young teenager he mostly played soccer, his favorite sport.

“I wasn’t the tallest kid,” he explains. “Discus athletes are usually really tall and strong, but I started maturing a little later. When I was 13 or 14, I was still short, so I never had a plan to become a discus thrower.

“Later, I started growing, and at 15 or 16 I switched and tried discus for the first time. My brother (Martynas) was already throwing, so I joined him.

“My dad is really happy that my brother and I are doing well and continuing our family’s tradition.”

His sister, Gabriele Aleknaite, has recently taken up the sport, too. He credits his father’s influence for helping provide him with a solid technique which, he says, is the “biggest part” of the sport.

“The first two years are the most important for discus throwers because that’s when you learn all the basics and technique,” he says.

“You need to have a really good base, and then you can add power, add strength. But as long as you have technique, you should be fine. So the first couple of years is when I did the most work.

“My dad would always help me out when I had questions. I had another coach, which was my main coach. But my dad would always be next to them when I started.”

Mykolas Alekna won silver at the Paris Olympics. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Alenka was two when his father won his second Olympic gold with a record-breaking throw in Athens. Athletes these days throw further — in 2026, nine men have already broken the 70m-mark, as opposed to two having done so in 2004 — but Alekna says the technique in the two eras is “almost the same.”

“The key part that has changed through the years is that training involves a lot of explosive work,” he says.

“I lift way less. I do fewer Olympic lifts than my dad and the other throwers used to because we do a lot more specific strength rotational exercises. They used to train for maximum strength, but now we try to develop explosive power instead of just strength in general.”

Despite appearing at the ancient Olympics and being part of modern games since the first edition in 1896, discus is not regarded as a box-office sport. He spends his summers and Christmases in Lithuania, where he is a four-time Sportsperson of the Year and often recognized.

But away from home, life is quite different. He mainly lives in the U.S. — he transferred to Oregon from the University of California, Berkeley in 2025 — and goes largely unnoticed.

Field athletes don’t tend to profit from Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals to the same extent as their peers in other sports, but Mykolas, without disclosing figures, says “there are ways to benefit.”

“Because there are so many athletes, I’m just a regular student that does athletics. No one really notices me, so I actually enjoy it because when I go back to Lithuania, people recognize me and my lifestyle is a little different compared to a regular student-athlete in America,” he says.

“In other countries, everyone forgets about smaller sports or events like discus. I’m fine with it. I find that it’s a niche sport, but I still enjoy doing it.”

Sports is filled with stories of sons and daughters trying to emulate or surpass the achievements of their parents. Some have done so successfully, others have struggled to reach such heights.

“I think I have my own story, so I don’t feel that much pressure. I just try not to think about it, not compare myself to him, and I think that helps a lot,” he says.

As he enters his third senior season, Alenka is aiming to add more titles to the family name. Despite spending the last few months in Lithuania recovering from surgery in March on a torn pectoral muscle, he made an impressive return to competition at the Lithuanian championships on July 25, throwing 72.65m — the third-longest throw of the year.

“I want to win again,” he says. “I want to win as many medals as I can, and the European Championship is the main goal this year, so I’ve been training hard to win it. It’s always exciting to win a medal because it shows how much work you’ve put in and you are finally recognized for it.”