Home » Sport » Čakšs wins the Jānis Lūsis memorial competition with a shot below 80 meters

Čakšs wins the Jānis Lūsis memorial competition with a shot below 80 meters

Gatis Čakšs Photo: Edijs Pālens / LETA

Gatis Čakšs and Lithuanian Liveta Jasjūnaite on Saturday in Jelgava celebrated the victory in memory of the legendary javelin thrower Jānis Lūšs.

Before the adult competition in a solemn ceremony, the stadium of the Zemgale Olympic Center was awarded the name of the late javelin thrower Jānis Lūšs.

First in the elite group, women went to the sector, winning with 59.13 meters for Jasjūnaitė. The second place with 58.58 meters was won by Madara Palameika, but the third with 58.42 meters was Līna Mūze.

This season, the leading Latvian javelin thrower Muses broke the series of seven victories on Saturday.

The men’s victory was won by the owner of the eighth place in the world season ranking Čakšs, who in his best attempt in Jelgava broadcast “spades” at a distance of 79.88 meters. Jānis Svens Grīva was second with 76.73 meters, but a throw of 73.52 meters gave third place to Matīss Velps.

European ex-champion Zigismund Sirmais took sixth place with 65.69 meters, giving way to Ansim Brown by 17 centimeters, who announced the end of his career a few years ago.

The Chakši family won two gold awards on Saturday, as Gata’s younger brother Artis won the U-20 group (with 800 grams of spears) with 62.59 meters. For women in the same age group, Veronika Lisovska was the first to broadcast at a distance of 42.87 meters.

In the U-18 group, the first boys with 56.54 meters (700 grams of spears) were Aleksandrs Patriks Pašulis, but the girls with 47.13 meters (500 grams of spears) were won by Elva Vestarta. On Saturday, the awards were also divided into U-16 and U14 age groups.

Olympic champion Jānis Lūša Cup in javelin throwing has been taking place since 1994, while since 2013 the competition has been taking place in the hometown of the legendary athlete Jelgava. The competition usually takes place in May, the month of the athlete’s birth, but this year the Covid-19 pandemic introduced a change.

On April 29 of this year, Lynx passed away at the age of 80. Thus, this was the first year when a sports legend could not honor the competition with its presence and the athletes fought for the first time for the Jānis Lūsis Memorial Cups.

The Latvian Javelin Club is organized by the Latvian Javelin Club in cooperation with the city of Jelgava and the municipal institution “Sports Service Center” in the javelin throwing competition of the Olympic champion Jānis Lūšs.

The lynx is a participant in four Olympic Games, as well as a winner of three Olympic medals – gold, silver and bronze. He is a four-time European champion, a twelve-time USSR champion, a ten-time Latvian champion and a two-time world record holder in javelin throwing.

Lūsis became the world record holder for the first time with an old spear in 1968, in the first race in the Finnish city of Särrijervi, the spear was fired at a distance of 91.98 meters and corrected the achievement of Norwegian Terje Pedersen by 26 centimeters.

For the second time, the Latvian javelin thrower reached the world record before the Olympic Games, improving the world record to 93.80 meters in Stockholm in 1972. He surpassed the achievement of Jorma Kinnunen, the father’s bag of the current Zigismund Sirma and Līna Mūze coach Kimo Kinnunen, by 1.10 meters.

According to athletics statistician Andris Staģis, Lūsis Lūsis has competed in javelin throwing 274 times and only 75 times has acknowledged the superiority of any of his opponents.

15 times for the most outstanding javelin thrower in Latvia, the javelin flew farther than 90 meters and in 147 competitions – farther than 80 meters.

In 1987, on its 75th anniversary, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) recognized Lucy as the world’s greatest spear thrower of all time.

In 2014, the IAAF included Lūsi in the IAAF Hall of Fame.

The Latvian legend of javelin throwing was married to 1960 Olympic champions, European ex-champions and world record-breakers in javelin throwing Elvira Ozolina. His son Voldemārs Lūsis also became a javelin thrower and carried the Latvian flag at the opening parade at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

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