RAMONA, OK — Sam Mattis took down an American record that had stood since 1981, and Valarie Sion produced the second farthest throw ever by an American woman to highlight four days of world-class competition at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational. The World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event also served as the third stop on the 2026 USATF Tour.
After the meet schedule was adjusted due to predicted severe weather in the Great Plains, the men's discus kicked off festivities on Thursday and turned out to be one of the greatest competitions ever with six men topping 70 meters for the first time. Australia's Matt Denny, the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist took the lead in the first round with a 72.01/236-3, and then in the next round Mattis had a massive 72.45/237-8 to better the American record of 72.34/237-4 that was set on July 7, 1981, in Stockholm by Ben Plucknett. Mattis set his previous PB of 71.27/233-10 last April at Ramona.
Germany's Steven Richter took over the lead and moved to No. 4 on the all-time world performer list in round three after a huge lifetime best of 74.00/242-9 that added more than four meters to his previous PB and was the seventh farthest performance ever. Denny responded two rounds later with a 74.04/242-11, the seventh best throw ever, that ultimately earned him the win. Mattis ended up fourth after Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia, the 2022 world champion, passed him in round six with a 72.61/238-2 effort.
Denny picked up his second win of the weekend on Saturday with a 73.58/241-5 that put him more than a meter in front of Richter, who hit 72.47/237-9 for second. Britain's Lawrence Okoye set a national record of his own in third at 71.88/235-10, and Mattis was fifth at 69.75/228-10.
Reigning Olympic and world champion Sion (née Allman) had won 30 straight women's discus competitions dating back to September 2022, but she suffered her first loss on Thursday when her subpar 65.18/213-10 left her in sixth, her lowest placing since finishing seventh at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Coming back with a vengeance on Saturday, Sion showed she was back to top form with her opening toss of 71.00/232-11, a world-leading throw that was also the fifth best ever by an American. In round three she improved that to 73.10/239-10, another world-leading mark that was the second best ever by an American behind only her national record of 73.52/241-2 that was set in Ramona exactly a year before.
Fresh off a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships, American record holder Chase Jackson grabbed the world outdoor lead on Saturday in the women's shot put with a best of 20.13/66-0.5. Jackson added two other marks that would have been good enough to win, an opening round 19.83/65-0.75 and a 19.47/63-10.5 in round four. In the men's shot put Roger Steen overtook Jamaica's Paris '24 bronze medalist Rajindra Campbell in the second round with a 21.26/69-9 toss, and he added to his margin of victory with a 21.77/71-5.25 in round five. Mexico's Uziel Muñoz, the silver medalist at last year's World Championships, was third.
Rebounding from a defeat at the USATF Winter Long Throws National Championship two weeks ago, Curtis Thompson dominated the men's javelin with a best of 85.33/279-11. Thompson, the bronze medalist at last year's World Championships, backed that up with three other throws better then 80 meters, including an 82.90/271-11 in the final stanza. Madison Wiltrout added a second straight win in the women's javelin with a 58.65/192-5 in round one to turn back Rhema Otabor of the Bahamas, the collegiate record holder while at Nebraska and a two-time NCAA champion.
Olympic and world champion Camryn Rogers of Canada, the world leader in the women's hammer with an 81.13/266-2 last week that made her the world's No. 2 all-time performer, won easily on the strength of a 79.63/261-3 in the third round. Rachel Richeson had another strong outing to take second at 78.30/256-10. Air Force Academy's Texas Tanner took top honors in the men's hammer with a 74.83/245-6 on his final attempt.
In Thursday's men's "B" competition, Tanner claimed the American collegiate record in the discus with a winning throw of 69.56/228-2 that made him the No. 2 all-time collegiate performer behind only world record holder Mykolas Alekna of Cal and Lithuania.