With the World Cup in Eugene only two months away, Daniel Stahl has become a man of the hunt.
In two consecutive tournaments – the World Cup in Doha and the Olympics in Tokyo – his gold was not threatened.
But after Slovenian Christian Syeh’s brutal throw in Birmingham, the new World Cup gold medal is no longer visible.
And he’s not the only one on the hunt for the Swede.
Two years ago, almost no one had heard of the giant from Slovenia.
But when the disc threw 68.75 away in the ski resort of Maribor in Slovenia at the start of summer, alarm bells rang.
When I spoke to Stoll coach Vesten Hafsteinson soon after, he said:
– Festin said it was just to prepare for the future.
Now the future is already here.
The 206cm peasant son of Ptojs joined the exclusive 70m club last year, when he threw 70.35.
Now the disc has fallen by almost a meter and has taken the Slovenian into the top ten list of all time by a centimeter.
He criticized, among others, Ricky Broch who was still split 10th on that list even today.
But Christian C is 23 years old and still in the beginning of his development.
Additionally, he changed coaches prior to this season to train as Ståhl.
Ståhl looked rusty
He chose Gerd Kanter, the Estonian who made Stoll coach Vestin Hafsteinsson a world champion.
Now that Kanter has moved on as a coach, he was at the same school that the Icelandic once taught him.
He appears to have had a quick impact on the 23-year-old Slovenian whom Vestein himself described as the greatest discus talent he had ever seen.
I must say that Daniel Stoll He looked rusty in his first Diamond League competition of the season.
He remained a mediocre for his 65.97 and was also beaten by Lithuanian Andrius Judzius.
It’s been nearly four years since Ståhl has been no better than third in the Diamond League and hasn’t lost in nearly two years.
But there was no doubt that Christian C would become a threat.
The only question is when he will catch up.
Prior to this season, Daniel Stahl had a 13-0 head-to-head encounter.
This season, the Slovenian is already 2-0 up.
He defeated the Swede for the first time already in the European Cup in Lira, Portugal on March 12th.
He is now on his way to becoming the favorite ahead of the World Cup finals in Eugene in July.
Ståhl’s advantage is his expertise and experience in the big competitions.
A busy day for the current Swedes’ World Cup
The Slovenian was an obvious medal candidate and a statistical second before the Tokyo Olympics last summer, but was disappointed fifth.
But Daniel Stahl knows the press – for the first time in a long time.
Wajeeh is not alone in hunting.
Mikulas Alekna from Lithuania has done a great job this spring.
He’s only 19 years old, and he’s shed 68.73k discs.
Compared to last year, he improved his personal record by more than five metres.
By way of comparison, Daniel Stahl scored 62.16 as the best player of the same age, but then I want to emphasize that the Swede has developed late.
Micholas Alcana has not been to Birmingham, where he studies and competes in the United States, but he will be at the World Cup.
And he has real disk genes.
He is the son of Virgilius Alcana, a double Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004 and a gold medalist at the 2003 and 2005 World Cups.
In second place with 73.88, which was closest to Jürgen Schulte’s East German bowler’s world record of 74.08.
It didn’t go well for any of Sweden’s current squad at the World Cup in Birmingham.
Simon Pettersson looked rustier than Ståhl and was last on his only certified shot of 56.82.
Khadi Sania came in seventh and second after last in the women’s length with a jump of 6.46.
Here, German Malakka Mihambo hit the crossbar, when she won in 7.09.
In the pole vault, Michaela Meijer already tore herself at 4.30 entrance height.