PARIS: Jamaica’s Roje Stona won gold in the Olympic discus throw on Wednesday, upsetting world record holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania who had hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps to become Olympic champion.
Alekna had to settle for silver and Australia’s Matthew Denny, who finished fourth in Tokyo, claimed the bronze.
Alekna, 21, was favourite to win, having thrown 74.35m in April to break the world record that had stood since 1986.
Warming up with a first throw of 68.55m, he then hurled the discus 69.97m to break the Olympic record his father Virgilijus Alekna had set 20 years ago.
That mark did not last long, though, as Stona responded with a 70m throw that Alekna failed to beat in two subsequent attempts.