Frantz Kruger, South African record-holder in the discus, inflicted a rare defeat on the Olympic and world champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania at an international athletics meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on Tuesday night.
Kruger’s winning throw of 65,97m was his best of the year and 6cm further than that of Alekna, the dominant discus-thrower in the world since 2000.
The South African, who is now living in Finland, took the lead in the fourth round of the competition, whereupon Alekna responded with his 65,91cm.
The wind conditions were most unpleasant and although Alekna tried hard with his final two throws, he was unable to surpass Kruger’s best effort.
It was Alekna’s first loss since the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich in 2004.
Kruger, who finished sixth at the recent World Championships, is one of a few South African athletes who will compete at the 2005 Weltklasse Golden League meeting on Friday. Others expected to take part are LJ van Zyl and Jacques Freitag. — Sapa