Daniel Ståhl - pronounce [Stohl], that's what the corona is for - dominated the Road to the Final. The Swede, who turns 27 on August 27, won three out of the four qualifying meetings. He was the best in Doha, London and on home soil in Stockholm and he finished in second in Rabat. With an effort of 71m86 in Bottnaryd, Sweden, he is also the World Leader of 2019. Together with Jamaican Fedrick Dacres, the winner of Rabat and also qualified for the final in Brussels, he is the only athlete who has already thrown beyond 70 meters this year.
For Ståhl it wouldn’t be his first win in Brussels. In 2016, he already crowned himself the winner of the Diamond League in the Discus Throw at the King Baudouin Stadium. At global championships, the Swede, who has a Swedish father and a Finnish mother, so far had to settle for minor placings. Ståhl took silver at the World Championships in London in 2017 and at the European Championships in Berlin in 2018, behind Andrius Gudzius. The Lithuanian World and European champion finished 8th in the Road to the Final and will also compete at the AG Memorial Van Damme.
Of course Ståhl wants to win every competition that he enters, but having fun is paramount. "Discus Throwing is not a matter of life or death", he once said in a philosophical mood. "It's 'just' sports. Nobody is going to blame you if you don't throw far. It's all about trying your best in sports. You have to enjoy the moment. For some athletes, Discus Throwing is a job, for me it's a hobby. I want to have fun and try to throw as far as possible." Delicious Scandinavian sobriety.
