Werloc

What a stressful final, but at least we snagged a bronze Mykolas Alekna is awesome and I hope we'll witness a lot more of his success in the future.

I told my friend that the ranking between 3rd and 20th is literally a couple of centimetres, so a medal is possible in case Rugilė gets a PB here, since I believed that 4.20 would guarantee a medal and she had 4.10 from last year. I didn't really believe that she would do it, after bombing out at the Team Championships and suffering a mini disaster last year in U18, but the chance was there, since it's a very close race and anybody had a chance if they overperformed.

Woooooow, Rugilė Miklyčiūtė just won a medal in the pole vault with a new NR!!! We were always useless in this discipline. Rugilė was the first ever U18 Lithuanian pole vault participant and she's the first U20 as well. Really unexpected, but extremely happy we're not coming back with empty hands.

What's even more disappointing is that the Polish athlete in bronze ran out of his lane, but apparently there was a rule change, where you're allowed to do that once now. That is why there are additional marks near Szwed's name in the protocol.

Really unfortunate how Krupeckaitė was the last pillar holding our cycling together and after her retirement, we are just participating and no longer fighting.

It's nice to see a collective improvement from at the U20 championships. In 2021 we had Mykolas Alekna win a gold medal in discus. This year, we have a final in the men's 100m and 400m as well as finals in women's pole vault, triple jump, discus throw and javelin. It is the first time ever that we have a pole vaulter in U20, she was also the first U18 pole vaulter to represent Lithuania as well. So she is rewriting Lithuanian sports history with her career. Adas Dambrauskas broke the Lithuanian U20 NR in 100m. Orinta Navikaitė (qualified to Javelin final), Aurėja Beniušytė (finished 11th in Triple Jump) and Justė Perveneckaitė (finished 10th in Race Walk) are all very exhausted after having an EYOF run, but they are youth national record holders in their own right. And Sutkus, that will run his 400m final in an hour is also responsible for the Lithuanian U20 NR. So really, a talented batch of youngsters for us here.

Diana Zagainova jumped a 14.02 and won a silver medal at the Universiade in the Triple Jump. She is the third Lithuanian to jump over 14m this season, with Grikšaitė and Kilty at 14.05 and 14.02 At the Baltic cup, Lithuania sent a rather weak team, but Aušraitė and Bubinaitė ran qualifying marks for the 2024 u18 championships in 400m and 800m.

Šidlaukas was 0.12s off the OQT in 100m breaststroke. That's unfortunate, I don't know if he has enough strength to swim a better semi or final right now.

3000m Freestyle and 4x400m Freestyle mixed perhaps?

All of Meilutytė's best results were achieved 10 years ago (until these championships) when she was the most tested Lithuanian athlete and they're definitely testing her left, right & center now. She was already not racing for nearly a year when that 'scandal' caught up with her. She never used anything that would help enhance a swimmer's performance. At that point she didn't even think about being a competitive swimmer ever again. The ban helped free her from our media outlets & "fans" harrassing her after every bad result and calling her fat, to creating this entire rivalry with Jefimova to get more clicks at Rūta's expense. And from the swimming federation that pushed her, because we needed more golds. Plus a hefty amount of family issues on top. People even destroyed her tree in Kaunas that was planted to commemorate her Olympic gold, because she didn't win gold in 2016. So I'm just celebrating the fact that she's alive and how she took back control of her life and even made a historical comeback through sheer willpower. I understand how the details might look to an outside viewer with no behind the scenes information, but in the Lithuanian sports scene additional things are known during her USA stint, because there were other Lithuanian athletes that stayed in USA at that time and rumours spread like wildfire.

Some news from nationals: Day 1: An injured Edis Matusevičius threw the javelin once, 80.23. That's the 5th start he needed for qualification to the World Championships. He's also leaving for Universiade right now. Modesta Morauskaitė ran a CR in 400m. 51.83 - should qualify to Worlds too. Airinė Palšytė came second with a miserable 1.83. Should still be enough to get her to Worlds as well. Ieva Zarankaitė with 59.87 in Discus, she is gaining somewhat of a form, that will probably evaporate once she leaves Lithuania. Day 2: Mykolas Alekna with 69.30, that's his first 69+ throw after coming back to Lithuania. He will remain in Vilnius to train for the championships and won't compete anywhere until then. His brother Martynas and Gudžius didn't have a good time with 63 and 62 metres. Andrius was said to throw over 65, but couldn't stay in the circle. Gabija Galvydytė 2:02.28, she will qualify to Worlds as well. Greta Karinauskaitė ran a CR in the steeple, she decided against retiring this season and seems to be preparing for a WCH start. Jogailė Petrokaitė with 6.54, good points for qualifications in 2024, but won't be enough for this year. Beatričė Juškevičiūtė runs a 13.33 in Heptathlon's 100m. Hurdles. That's the 3rd best Lithuanian hurdle time in history Day 3: Aina Grikšaitė 14.05 and Dovilė Kilty 14.02 in the Triple jump, might get them both to Worlds, Zagainova third with 13.93, probably won't push her up the rankings as much. Liveta Jasiūnaitė threw 55+ metres, not looking great, although there was a lot of rain. Beatričė Juškevičiūtė fails her qualification attempt as she ends her heptathlon with 5905, with rather poor performances in shot put and the javelin, but over a thousand points in the hurdles and close to a 1000 in 200 metres.

I don't believe that is commonly known information, but let's just say she had a really really bad time when she transferred to the US. I'm happy she's out of there and healthy back in Lithuania. Right now she's training with our recently retired former butterfly specialist Duškinas, who kinda fucked his career at the States as well

Aleksas Savickas 2:09.66 in 200m Breaststroke Becomes the third Lithuanian swimmer to qualify to the Olympic Games

Really did not expect that Aleksas Savickas would qualify to the Olympic Games faster than Kotryna Teterevkova

Just came here to mention that her comeback to the swimming world is insane, albeit I'm somewhat nervous she swam this good, this early. Hopefully she'll pull through the semi and final with a similar time

Can we also appreciate the fact how well Finland is actually doing in these championships? 7 medals already, one of the best championships for a host nation in a while now, I think

Okay, so Mykolas is not broken after all CR on the very first throw and probably gold for Lithuania

Perhaps a case of overtraining a young talent, or perhaps he just reached his limits. Every country has a huge amount of young prospects, which for one reason or another don't reach the heights that we learn to expect from them. Yes, you can be happy for talented u18 athletes, but expecting them to dominate juniors and seniors is pretty much gambling, because we don't know what's going on in their lives and bodies to make conclusions on why something isn't working.

I don't think there was that much to do this year, to be honest. I remember seasons where everybody had to start every single weekend. Mykolas only threw in like three competitions before heading back to Lithuania. If there is anyone that could complain this year, it would be the heptathletes: Enok, Juškevičiūtė (LTU), Blaževica, Bačianskaitė (LTU) and all four of them are looking fine. Juškevičiūtė and Bačianskaitė will start in the Lithuanian championships in two weeks, but they've been looking well in their recent starts.

Keršulis delivered a final, but not in a convincing fashion at all. He ran sub 46 indoors, expected him to run comfortable 45.50s in summer.

I really wouldn't worry that much and put him on retirement duty just yet. Ups and downs are common in any and every career, especially sports. If he threw 70+ metres twice this year, it means that he can do that again. Martynas, for example, everybody thought that he would just end his career at 61 metres and here he goes and starts throwing 67s

Yup, that's why I'm trusting Karinauskaitė a little bit more right now

Not in the cards it seems, as she's struggling on low jumps.

1.74 is probably as high as Vaitaitytė can go today, hopefully she'll make it.

Yup, was rather disappointed. She looked on form in recent competitions at Lithuania, so I thought it's going to go well. Although, she is an anomaly of Lithuanian heptathlon as the only athlete ever that has a better second day, than first