Coach ,

On April 14, Lithuanian discus thrower Mykolas Alekna broke a world record that had stood for four decades.

Alekna’s throw of 74.35 meters surpassed the previous record of 74.08 meters, which was set by Germany’s Jurgen Schult in 1986. 

Mohammad Saatara, Alekna’s coach at the University of California, spends over an hour breaking down Alekna’s world-record breaking technique in his ‘Mykolas Alekna Technical Analysis’ course. 

Saatara breaks down the prodigy’s world-record-breaking form into easily digestible fragments, which allows other discus coaches to teach this same technique to their own athletes. 

‘Technical Points’

Technical Points

In the ‘Technical Points’ section of Coach Sataara’s breakdown of Alekna’s discus technique, he breaks down the different phases of his throw into six sections:

1. DS1 - the initial wind and entry to the turn
2. SS1 - right leg pick up and movement to the center of the circle
3. Flight phase - transition from the entry to the middle of the circle
4. SS2 - right leg landing and rotation about the central axis until the landing of the left leg
5. DS2 - landing in the delivery position and delivery
6. Recovery - landing after the release of the discus

Coach Sataara notes how, when humans are throwing something, they can only put a lot of acceleration on the throw when both legs are on the ground. 

This is important when it comes to discus technique because a thrower wants to be spending much more time both of their feet planted during the throw, rather than having one leg lifted or in the air. 

Alekna would not be able to generate such power — and therefore, not produce such a pristine throw — if he spent any more time with his feet off the ground than necessary. 

‘Technical Characteristics’

Technical Characteristics

In addition to his six technical points, Coach Sataara also lists five general points that he considers crucial to not only Alekna’s discus throw, but to every discus athlete:

1. Balanced movement throughout the throw
2. Long path of the discus through the throw
3. Deliberate increase in the tempo of the throw
4. Active acceleration of the discus about a stable blocking left side

Coach Sataara believes that if a thrower’s center of gravity is not over the axis of rotation, crucial time and energy is spent making the body come to balance throughout the throw. 

Mykolas Alekna came to Coach Sataara already well aware of these points. Yet, in teaming up with Coach Sataara, Alenka’s technique continued to be sharpened over time because he was extremely coachable and willing to learn. 

‘Strength Training’

Strength Training

Another important point that Coach Sataara makes is that, while strength training is obviously important for discus throwers (and all other athletes, for that matter), the goal of strength training for discus should not to lift as heavy weight as possible. 

Instead of focusing on lifting extremely heavy, Coach Sataara instructs Alekna to focus on event-specific lifts and exercises. These sorts of exercises will both help increase one’s throw and help protect a young thrower from unnecessary injury. 

Teaching these techniques to your own pupils will help them get the most out of their natural discus-throwing ability.

Regards,

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