As far as sporting monikers go, Kristjan Ceh couldn’t have asked for a better one. In international track and field circles, the Slovenian discus thrower is nicknamed ‘Superman’. It’s easy to see the resemblance. With clean-cut good looks, thick-framed glasses, and a powerful 6ft 9ins frame that stands out even in an event that’s notable for the size of its participants, the 24-year-old is a ringer for Clark Kent.
He’s more than capable of superheroesque feats once he steps inside the discus throw cage. Last year, in Oregon, not only did he become the youngest ever world champion in the sport, but also his throw of 71.13m smashed the championship record by almost a metre.
Expect more big things from him. Only three men — Lars Riedel, Virgilijus Alekna, and Robert Harting — have won world titles in consecutive years, and Ceh, who has been in great touch this season, looks more than capable of adding his name to that list. He has improved his personal best to 71.86m, nearly half a metre ahead of Olympic champion Daniel Stahl (71.45m) and nearly a metre ahead of Mykolas Alekna (71m) who won European gold last year.
While it’s hard to imagine Ceh as anything but one, he is the first to admit he wouldn’t have imagined himself as an elite athlete. “I’ve got to travel the world and win world titles. I couldn’t even have dreamt of it,” he tells Sportstar.
Track and field was indeed not a likely career path for Ceh growing up. In another parallel to the life story of the ‘Man of Steel’ (who grew up in rural Kansas), Ceh grew up on a farm in the town of Ptuj in Slovenia. A life in the fields is what he assumed awaited him. “We have a small farm where we have both dairy cattle and crops. My family has been farming for many generations. No one, as far as I can remember, ever played sports,” he says.
Ceh didn’t plan on playing sports either. “I didn’t even like sports. I was actually an anti-sport guy because I wasn’t good at anything. I was definitely not good at any ball sport. I was quite clumsy. That’s why I didn’t really like sports at the start,” he says.
Field of play: Ceh grew up on a farm in the town of Ptuj in Slovenia, therefore a life in the fields is what he assumed awaited him. After all his family has been farming for multiple generations. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
He might not have had any ball skills, but there was no doubt that Ceh had farm strength. “We have cows, but we also grow things for the animals to eat. My favourite job was to be on a tractor. But we didn’t have a big farm, so there wasn’t much of that. What was probably the least enjoyable was in the summer, when I had to spend the whole day in the field, scything hay or clearing out cattle waste,” he says.
It wasn’t much fun but in hindsight, Ceh says it worked out for him. “I gained a lot of strength working on a farm. I think, at a young age, it’s important to do other work besides sports. If you are between 8 and 15 it’s better to do a lot of things rather than just train for a sport. I guess I was lucky there,” he says.
Ceh was 15 when he actually started his sports career. And while basketball and football are the most popular sports in his small nation, Ceh gravitated towards athletics. “I started my athletics a little late. Initially, I was thinking about basketball because I was tall, but I really didn’t have a lot of skill with the ball. Also, in my town, we didn’t really have a basketball team, so that left athletics for me. I still played for fun, but not for training. I like athletics because it’s an individual sport. I can decide what to do. If I mess up, I mess up. If I win, I win alone,” he says.
It didn’t take him long to realise he was good at the throws. “I don’t know if it was because I grew up on a farm and ate all that home food or because I helped out a lot in the fields, but I had a natural strength that you can’t get while training in a gym. I am also quite tall and have a wide wingspan. I’m about 206cm tall, and my wingspan is about 216cm. That’s very useful in discus,” he says.
And while a high eye power that necessitates thick glasses isn’t particularly optimal, Ceh has learned to make it his trademark. “I’ve been wearing glasses since I was six. I tried wearing contacts once, but it felt very strange, so I went back to the thick glasses. Without them, I feel uncomfortable and weird. I keep searching for them. I have rubber on my nose, so it doesn’t bother me or fly off when I’m throwing. It’s become part of my identity now,” he says.
While the discus is what he’s made his career in, it wasn’t the only throwing event he tried. “I started with the shot put, actually, but changed in half a year. For me, discus was easier. I enjoyed it. I did the other throws as well, but I injured my elbow when I was throwing the shot, and I was always worried about my knee when it came to the javelin. That left the hammer throw, which I guess I am a bit too tall for. It’s good to be tall in the throws, but I think my feet are a bit too big for the hammer throw,” he says.
Ceh wouldn’t mind the throwing circle being a bit bigger in the discus too. While his 6ft 9-frame gives him tremendous reach compared to most of his rivals, it sometimes makes him overstep the 2.5m diameter throwing ring and fouling his attempt. “If it was up to me to make the circle just 5 cm wider, it would make a difference. This year I have had a couple of competitions in which I know I had throws over 72m but I ended up fouling them. They are tiny little fouls, but if I had about 5cm of space, I wouldn’t have made them,” he says.
Of course, in his early years, Ceh wasn’t throwing anything near the 70m+ monsters he uncorks regularly now. “It took me about two years of training before I realised I was good and that I could do something that others really couldn’t,” he says. Even that was a gradual learning experience for Ceh, whose senior performance belies his rather modest results at the junior level — he came 26th at the European Youth Championships in 2016 and only 15th at the World Juniors a year later. “I didn’t really win a lot. I took part in all the U-18 and U-20 tournaments, but I couldn’t even make the final. Ideally, this should destroy me mentally,” he laughs. “But it only gave me hope that I am not done yet. I can get better,” he says.
As he’s gotten better, Ceh’s developed a genuine appreciation for his event. “If you ask me to compare it to the other track and field events, I think the discus throw is the best. It has the most history and is definitely the oldest. When you see the statues from ancient times, the Greeks were throwing discus at the ancient Olympics. It’s also really interesting because it’s one of the most competitive events in athletics. There are five throwers who have made throws over 70m and three of us have made throws over 71m. All of us are chasing the world record [74.04m set by Jurgen Schult in 1986]. This is the oldest world record in men’s athletics, and a lot of guys are coming close. So it’s interesting to see who is going to get it,” he says.
Of his potential rivals in Budapest, the toughest will be 2020 Olympic champion Daniel Stahl and 2022 World silver medallist Mykolas Alekna. “Stahl is the oldest of us. He has a lot of experience. He is very strong. This year, he is technically better. Alekna is three years younger than me and still very young. He has very long arms, wide shoulders, and is very flexible, which is perfect for the discus. He also has a technique that suits him,” he says, summarising his rivals.
But even if he has high praise for his rivals abilities and is more modest about his own, Ceh isn’t writing himself off either. “I am the tallest of them even though my wingspan isn’t great. Stahl and Alekna have actually got longer wingspans than me, so I’m relatively short in that aspect. But long arms, height, and strength aren’t enough by themselves. What’s equally important is a good technique. That makes the most difference. I have a decent technique, a stable one. We did a good job developing it. This is the main point,” he says.
While Ceh sees Alekna as one of his challenging opponents, there’s another layer to their rivalry. Following the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fifth, Ceh has been coached by former world and Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia. Mykolas, meanwhile, is coached by his dad — Olympic and two-time world champion Virgiljus Alekna, who in turn was among Kanter’s greatest competitors. “People are talking about the Ceh-Alekna rivalry like it is Kanter-Alekna all over again. I train in Estonia, and here in the Baltics, there are always people talking about it,” he says.
For now, it is Ceh who has the upper hand in this rekindled rivalry, for although Alekna took a surprising win over him at last year’s European championships, it’s still the Slovenian who came through when it mattered the most — at last year’s World Championships.
Ceh was named Slovenian Sportsman of the Year in 2022, beating NBA All-Star Luka Doncic. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The win was the biggest of his career and a necessary one after a less-than-stellar performance at the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fifth. Back in 2021, he still had a relatively modest record, and when he travelled to Japan, he did so on a shoestring budget. “I could have done better in Tokyo, but I fouled one throw that would have definitely put me on the podium, by just a millimetre or so. I think I did ok for my first Olympics. But I was there alone, with no coach and nobody else. I think I did well by finishing fifth,” he says.
All that changed after the gold in Eugene. “Back in 2021, it was just me and my girlfriend [Estonian hammer thrower] Anna Maria [Orel] doing the season alone. She was consulting with Gerd on how to do training, but we were mostly doing it alone. Financially, it’s a lot easier. I have Gerd come with me to every competition. He’s a great thrower and shares with me a lot of his experiences at the Worlds and the Olympics. He tells me where he didn’t do so well and where I can improve,” he says.
The gold also saw him named Slovenian Sportsman of the Year in 2022, beating NBA All-Star Luka Dončić — no easy task in his basketball-crazy nation. “That was really unexpected. The funny thing is, I’ve met Luka a couple of times, including at the Olympics, and of course we were born just a few days apart. We aren’t great friends or anything. He has his own life. But maybe one day we will speak,” he says.
Although Ceh feels it unlikely that Dončić throws the discus, he certainly does shoot hoops. “I usually play basketball while warming up. It’s a little harder to play with Gerd because now that he’s retired from discus, he takes his basketball very seriously. He practises three times a week while I’m just playing for fun,” he says.
While one-on-one matches with Kanter aren’t always the easiest, Ceh says the fact that he trains in Estonia, away from his home in Slovenia, works for him. “In Slovenia, usually I always end up getting asked for pictures, but in Estonia, people generally let me be, which is useful because I can train easily,” he says. When he’s not training in Estonia, Ceh spends time with Anna. “She is a great chef. I actually have a lot of Indian food because that’s her favourite cuisine. Tikka masala is something I eat a lot of,” he says.
When he wants to unwind, Ceh returns to his homesteading roots. “One thing I really enjoy doing is forestry and chopping wood. Sometimes, when I go back home, I will go back and work in the fields. I actually enjoy this. I was actually studying agriculture before I started focussing completely on my discus throwing career. I’m only 24 right now, but one day I really hope I can return to farming. I want to have a big chicken farm eventually,” he says.
For now, though, there’s a career as an elite athlete to focus on, with the Worlds just a few days away. “I love discus throw. I love the fact that it lets me travel to different countries, although I don’t like going by plane because the seats are too small for me. I love to compete, especially in big competitions when the stadium is full. In every competition, I want to be the best that I am capable of,” he says. “Before a top competition, I always have this feeling that I’m about to puke. I actually look forward to that feeling. When I get that feeling, I know I am ready to compete. I know the World Championships is going to be exciting. Full stadium, good crowd — so it’s going to be a really good tournament,” he says.
And while Ceh says he will eventually hope to return to a life in the slow lane, for now he’s looking to do as much as possible on the athletic field.
“There is just one period in my life — maybe 10–15 years — when I can do this. So I’m going to enjoy it right now, and I’ll do the rest after that. I’ll be a farmer later. Right now, I like being known as the Superman of Discus,” he says.
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