US discus thrower Valarie Allman (© Kirby Lee via Image of Sport)
USA’s two-time Olympic champion Valarie Allman regained the North American discus record with a remarkable 73.52m throw at the Oklahoma Throws Series – a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting – in Ramona on Saturday (12).
That mark is the farthest women's discus throw in the world since 1989 and it moves Allman to sixth on the world all-time list.
At a competition known for big performances, world champion Laulauga Tausaga-Collins also improved her PB to 70.72m, surpassing 70 metres for the first time, to finish second.
Allman started her series with 69.52m, a season’s best that improved on the 66.72m she achieved on her opener in Austin last month.
She followed that with 65.01m in round two, before launching herself up the all-time list with her next effort.
Allman’s 73.52m in the third round improves on her previous best and US record of 71.46m set in San Diego in 2022. That had been a North American record until Cuba’s Yaime Perez threw 73.09m in Ramona last year.
But Allman became the area record-holder again on Saturday, and she followed her 73.52m with throws of 66.71m and 68.10m before closing her series with 70.16m.
USA’s Tausaga-Collins achieved her PB of 70.72m in the second round, while her compatriot Veronica Fraley improved her own PB to 68.72m to finish third.
Perez finished fourth on this occasion with a best of 66.96m.
In earlier Oklahoma Throws Series action, Australia’s Matt Denny threw an Oceanian discus record of 74.25m on Thursday (10) for a mark that is just 10cm shy of Mykolas Alekna’s world record.
Both Denny and Alekna will compete in the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational on Sunday (13).
On Friday (11), USA’s Rachel Richeson won the hammer competition with a throw of 78.80m.
That mark adds almost four metres to her previous PB and moves her to fifth on the world all-time list.
The national indoor weight throw champion surpassed 74 metres with three of her throws in Ramona, backing up her 78.80m from the fifth round with 74.25m from the third round and 76.41m from the sixth.
