Daniel Stahl might have suffered the agony of missing out on gold at the European Championships in the final round of the discus but this morning he finds himself at the top of the world lists.
On a brilliant weekend for him at the Swedish Championships in Eskilstuna, Stahl produced the best throw of 2018 as he took the title with a massive 69.72m on Sunday (26).
His world lead might not make up for the disappointment of losing out on gold to Lithuania’s Andrius Gudzius – just as he did at the IAAF World Championships in London last year – but here in Sweden was proof that his time will surely come.
It was a brilliant weekend for Stahl, who also won the shot put on Saturday with 18.78m. He then launched the discus to the second furthest distance he has reached behind his national record of 71.29m from June 2017.
And in this form, he will be packed with even more confidence entering the Diamond League in Brussels on Friday night where he will face Gudzius among others.
Of the four medals Sweden won in Berlin, Stahl was one of their two silver medallists. Andreas Kramer was the other, equalling his national 800m record in Berlin with 1:45.03 to finish second behind Poland’s Adam Kszczot. Kramer went one better at the Swedish Championships, winning in 1:47.82.
On Saturday (25), Angelica Bengtsson broke the championship record in the pole vault with 4.62m and Charlotta Fougberg - who contested the 5000m and 10,000m at the European Championships - won the 3000m steeplechase in another championship record of 9:42.14.
Other highlights included Khaddi Sagnia winning the long jump title with 6.71m, Fanny Roos winning the shot put with 18.08m and teenager Henrik Larsson winning the 100m in a wind-assisted 10.14 (+4.8).
Moller nears Danish 3000m steeplechase record
At the Danish Championships in Odense on Saturday, Anna Emilie Moller, who broke her national 3000m steeplechase record as she finished seventh in Berlin in 9:31.66, neared that mark on home soil.
Running without any pacemakers, Moller stopped the clock at 9:34.85. She was only three seconds shy of her national record but the European U23 champion did achieve a championship record nonetheless.
In the 100m, Frederik Schou won the men’s event in 10.56 and Mathilde Kramer became the women’s champion in 11.64 before on Sunday completing the sprint double by running 23.85 in the 200m.
At the Norwegian U20/U23 Championships in Oslo, Jonathan Quarcoo won the U23 200m title in 20.66 and Marcus Thomsen achieved 19.58m to win the U23 shot put title. European finalist Sondre Guttormsen won the U20 pole vault title with 5.51m.
Drahotova breaks Czech 5000m race walk record
The men of Dukla Praha won the Czech Clubs title for 58th time and women of USK Praha triumphed for 28th time at the Czech Team Championships in Uherske Hradiste.
Anezka Drahotova, the silver medallist in the 20km race walk in Berlin, produced one of the highlights of the weekend as she broke the national record for the track 5000m walk in 20:48.75.
Slovakia’s European U23 200m champion Jan Volko also took a sprint double, winning the 100m in 10.27 and the 200m in a wind-assisted 20.28.
And at the Hungarian Clubs Super League, world bronze medallist Balazs Baji won the 110m hurdles in 13.62, Bence Halasz took the men’s hammer title with 76.74m and Reka Gyuratz triumph in the women’s hammer with 71.14m.
And at the city meeting on Fountain Square in Warsaw on Sunday, there were Polish victories for European shot put champion Paulina Guba with 18.48m and for pole vaulter Piotr Lisek cleared 5.70m. Michal Haratyk had to settle for second in the men's shot put behind Darrell Hill from the United States, 21.50m to 21.23m.
Ogbechie does the double in Bedford
A clutch of medallists from last month’s European Athletics U18 Championships in Gyor were in superb form over the weekend.
On the first day of the England Athletics U18 Championships in Bedford, British high jumper Dominic Ogbechie, who took the European title by equalling his outdoor personal best of 2.16m, extended that to 2.18m and then had three attempts at 2.21m while the Netherlands’ European U18 100m champion Raphael Bouju - who runs for Bedford & County - won in a wind-assisted 10.50.
On Sunday, Ogbechie won the long jump with 7.30m as fellow gold medallists Max Burgin and Keely Hodgkinson won the 800m titles in 1:49.21 and 2:09.38 respectively.
In Molfetta on Friday, Carmelo Musci, the silver medallist from Gyor, stretched his Italian U18 shot put record to 20.94m using the 5kg implement, increasing the mark of 20.37m he had reached to make the podium at the start of July.