Jamaica’s Roje Stona stunned his competitors by setting a new Olympic record to win the gold medal in the men’s discus event in the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old, coached by 31-year-old fellow Olympian and shot put champion at the Paris Games Ryan Crouser, launched a throw of 70.00 metres with two rounds left in the final to win his first Olympic gold.
Men’s discus throw final was a VIBE
The Olympic record got broken TWICE 😤
🥇 🇯🇲 Roje Stona 70.00m OR
🥈 🇱🇹 Mykolas Alekna 69.97m
🥉 🇦🇺 Matthew Denny 69.31m#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/sMup7oIkNF— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 7, 2024
The Jamaican had to come from behind to defeat world record-holder Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna, whose 69.97m in the second round had beaten the 69.89m mark set by his father Virgilijus two decades ago in 2024.
With two more attempts remaining, Alekna failed to improve on his initial throw, taking the silver medal ahead of Australia’s Matthew Denny, who also surpassed the 69m mark to get the bronze medal with a throw of 69.31m.
Stona finally gets one over Alekna, who beat the Jamaican after throwing 74.35 m in May to break the longest-standing men’s world record set by Jurgen Schult in 1986.
“It’s a very special night. It’s everything I wanted, but for it to actually happen, it’s a very good feeling,” Stona said.
“In practice, leading up to the competition, I felt great. So I believed in myself and I knew that I had it in me. I just went and released it, no pressure. I was already in the top eight, so I had nothing to lose.
“I’ve done some things that I didn’t know I was capable of doing. But I believed, and I had faith, so I was in the moment and I enjoyed it,” he added.
He becomes Jamaica’s first medallist in the discus event at the Olympic Games and Jamaica’s first champion of the Paris Olympics.
Stona’s victory helped him become the first man outside Europe and the United States to win gold in the men’s discus event.
