Performance-enhancing drugs have long been the scourge of athletics, but now some observers are claiming “weather doping” was behind a slew of discus records at a meeting in the US on Sunday.
Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist, smashed his own world record when he became the first man to pass the 75m mark with a throw of 75.56m at the Continental Tour Bronze event at Ramona, Oklahoma.
The 22-year-old bettered his own previous mark of 74.35m, set at the same venue last year, having also passed it with his opening throw of 74.89 on Sunday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Australia’s Matthew Denny also impressed, surpassing Alekna’s record from last year with a throw of 74.78m as five men cleared 70m at the same event for the first time.
Valarie Allman also smashed the US women’s record with a throw of 73.52m — the longest by a woman for 36 years.
However, various Scandinavian commentators and coaches said the extraordinary performances were enabled by the venue’s engineered design, which appears to take advantage of high wind speeds.
Unlike various track events and the horizontal jumps, the discus throw has no restrictions on wind assistance when it comes to validating records and Millican Field in Oklahoma features several throwing circles positioned to help athletes take advantage of the wind direction.
“Mykolas Alekna smashes his own world record with a 75.56 throw in a wind-battered Ramona and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Swedish commentator Mats Wennerholm said. “It just becomes ridiculous in a competition boosted by gale-force winds. Weather doping should be added to the banned list.”
“It’s a different sport,” Staffan Jonsson, the coach of Sweden’s Olympic and world champion thrower Daniel Stahl said.
Norway’s former Olympic 800m champion-turned-pundit Vebjorn Rodal said: “It’s blowing like crazy here. There’s no doubt this arena is sought out for throwing far.”
However, World Athletics said throwing events have never been subject to wind assistance restrictions like track events and jumps.
“It would be impossible to choose a point at which to measure the wind given the width of the throwing area and the vast area that throwing implements cover,” a World Athletics spokesperson said. “Understanding the wind conditions has always been part of throwing and vertical jump athletes’ calculations. It should also be noted that wind assistance is far more beneficial for an object that has a large surface, such as a human body, rather than a small and light implement that can be easily diverted.”
The governing body said the records achieved in Oklahoma fall within its rules and regulations, and would be ratified subject to the usual processes.
Thor Gjesdal of the Norwegian Athletics Federation said more wind-assisted throws can be expected, despite the criticism.
“It is more difficult to quantify the benefit of wind in the same way as in running,” Gjesdal said. “It will be difficult to change the rules now.”
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