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

The men's discus throw at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 5 and 7 August 2024.

Men's discus throw at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad
Venue	Stade de France, Paris, France
Date	5 August 2024 (qualification) 7 August 2024 (final)
Winning distance	70.00 OR
Medalists
Rojé Stona  Jamaica Mykolas Alekna  Lithuania Matthew Denny  Australia

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, 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.

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	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	Ramona, United States	14 April 2024

Area records before the 2024 Summer Olympics

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.

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

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Qualification § Men's discus throw

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.

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.

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

Final

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

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).

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance	Notes
	Rojé Stona	Jamaica	61.66	65.20	66.16	70.00	x	x	70.00	OR, PB
	Mykolas Alekna	Lithuania	68.55	69.97	x	68.88	68.49	x	69.97
	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