Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania obliterated his own world discus record with a throw of 75.56 metres on Sunday at the same venue where he set the previous mark a year ago. The Olympic silver medallist became the first man ever to launch a discus further than 75m with his effort in the fourth round at the Oklahoma Throws Series competition in Ramona. That heave improved his mark from 12 months ago by more than a metre. In fact, he first broke the previous record by half a metre with his opening throw of 74.89m.

The record had come under threat earlier this week when Australia’s Matthew Denny recorded the second-furthest throw in discus history with an Oceania record of 74.25m in Ramona on Thursday.

Denny, the Olympic bronze medallist, had to bow to Alekna on Sunday with a best attempt of 74.78m which surpassed the Lithuanian’s previous world record but left him runner-up.

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