PARIS – World-record holder Mykolas Alekna captured the silver medal in the men's discus for Lithuania at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Wednesday. The California track & field star's silver brought the Golden Bears' medal count to 18 in Paris, the third most ever by a Cal contingent at a single Olympic Games.
 
Alekna – the No. 1 discus thrower in the world by World Athletics – made history with an Olympic-record throw of 69.97 meters (229-6) in the second round, breaking the previous record that was set by his father and two-time Olympic champion, Virgilijus Alekna, in 2004. Minutes later, the Olympic record was rewritten again as Jamaica's Rojé Stona surpassed Alekna with a 70.00m throw that stood as the gold medal-clinching mark. Alekna's eventual fourth- and fifth-round throws of 68.88 and 68.49 were not enough to leapfrog Stona.
 
Alekna joined fellow Golden Bear alumni Camryn Rogers, who won gold for Canada in the women's hammer throw on Tuesday, as the Cal track & field program's first Olympic medalists since 2000.
 
Men's Water Polo
Adrian Weinberg blocked three penalty shots – including two in a penalty shootout – as part of an 11-save effort that helped lift the United States into the Olympic semifinals for the first time since 2008 with an 11-10 win over Australia in the quarterfinal round. Cal's three-time NCAA champion goalkeeper was a brick wall down the stretch.
 
Johnny Hooper and Luca Cupido both scored one goal apiece in the first half to round out the Golden Bears' key contributions to the quarterfinal victory. Cal's American trio – along with fellow alumnus and U.S. assistant coach Gavin Arroyo – will face Serbia in semifinal play Friday at a time to be determined.
 
Three-time Peter J. Cutino Award winner Nikolaos Papanikolaou netted his third goal of his first Olympic Games but was unable to help propel Greece past Serbia in a 12-11 quarterfinal loss. Papanikolaou's goal was the first of the match for either side, coming less than one minute after the opening whistle. The Greeks, though eliminated from medal contention, will move onto the 5th-8th classification round Friday.
 
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