World champion Daniel Stahl extended his world lead in the men’s discus on his way to winning the event at a low-key meeting in Bottnaryd, Sweden on Saturday (10). The mark was also the best performance by the Swede this season. Result
Stahl, the pre-Olympic favorite to win the men’s discus gold medal in Tokyo later this summer, hinted that he was ready for a big day when he tossed the discus 70.27m in the first round of the competition. The mark was his eighth best effort for his career.
The reigning world champion from Doha 2019 then improved his performance to 71.40m in the second round, bettering his previous 2021 world lead from 70.55m, which was set in Kuortane, last month.
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It was also the second best throw for Stahl in his career behind the 71.86m effort, which was also achieved in Bottnaryd in 2019.
Stahl who was picking up his 11th victory of the season, only other measured mark in series on Saturday came in the fourth round, at 64.67m.
The 28-year-old 10-time Sweden national champion is the leading contender for the gold medal in Japan, according to the latest track and field odds for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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In Bottnaryd, on Saturday, two-time world championships finalist Simon Pettersson finished second with 65.91m, while Norway’s Sven Martin Skagestad ended third with 61.13m.
The women’s discus throw contest was won by Lisa Pedersen of Denmark with a mark of 58.73m.
Marcus Thomsen of Norway, meanwhile, took the top podium spot in the men’s Shot Put with a throw of 20.91m. He opened the competition with a measure of 20.75m before heaving the winning effort in the second round.
The Dane also threw 20.82m, 20.73m, and 20.56 in his series.
The winning performance on the women’s side came from German 2016 World Junior champion Alina Kenzel who threw a personal best of 18.69m in the fourth round of competition.
Fanny Roos, the European Indoor Silver medalist at Torun 2021, had to settle for second with 18.52m.
