After a solid but unspectacular season’s opener at the Impossible Games in Oslo followed by six no-throws in Sodertalje last weekend, world discus champion Daniel Stahl was close to his best form at the Victor Svanesohn Memorial in Helsingborg on Sunday (21) afternoon.
And both the Swede himself and his coach Vesteinn Hafsteinsson have promised there is more to come from Stahl this year after he became the first thrower to surpass the 70 metre-barrier this year with a world leading distance of 70.25m.
“My coach Vesteinn said it was good but there is much more. And there was not one hundred percent power in the throw; I was a little cautious,” Stahl told Aftonbladet after the competition.
This was the fifth time Stahl has surpassed the 70 metre-line in a competition and his coach has hinted he might even be in the shape to further improve his national record of 71.86m.
‘This is just the beginning, there's more,” confirmed Hafsteinsson. “Daniel is in incredible shape but he has not shown it in a competition...he needed this after the first two competitions. There has been a little too much adrenaline and the timing has not been right.”
It was a good meeting for Hafsteinsson’s training group. Stahl’s training partner Simon Pettersson, who finished fourth in the discus at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships, extended his lifetime best to 67.10m. Fanny Roos also impressed with 18.77m in the shot put.
Michaela Meijer produced another notable performance on Swedish soil on Saturday (20). Competing in Karlskrona, Meijer cleared 4.60m before taking three attempts at a prospective lifetime best of 4.72m.
World leading times for Swiety-Ersetic and Jozwik in Chorzow
European 400m champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic had a typically busy afternoon on her season’s debut in Chorzow on Saturday, the first significant in-stadium competition to take place in Poland this summer.
As well as clocking 12.10 in the 100m and a world leading mark of 37.05 in the 300m, Swiety-Ersetic also paced Olympic 800m finalist Joanna Jozwik to a world leading time of 1:27.90 clocking in the 600m.
“With today's races I have relieved my great hunger for competition. An additional motivation for me was to start at my 'home' Silesian Stadium,” said Swiety-Ersetic. “Of course it's a pity the audience could not support us yet because it always gives us extra energy. But the time will come, now we are very happy that the season has finally commenced.”
Watch Justyna Swiety-Ersetic open her season with a world leading 37.05 over 300m in Chorzow on Saturday.
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) June 22, 2020
She also clocked 12.10 in the 100m and paced Joanna Jozwik to a 1:27.90 world lead in the 600m!pic.twitter.com/drZOCd3AsX
Konrad Bukowiecki defeated Michal Haratyk for the second time in the space of three days in the shot put - 20.63m to 20.12m - and there were also notable performances in the hammer. European champion Wojciech Nowicki reached out to 78.52m in the men’s hammer and Katarzyna Furmanek surpassed the 70 metre-line for the first time in her career with 71.02m.
'I am very pleased and a little surprised with today's results because I have been in 'winter' training for several months,' said Nowicki. 'We used the forced break in the starts to make some changes in my preparations and it looks promising. I still need some freshness and power to throw around 80 metres.'
In Kielce on Saturday, Polish javelin record-holder Marcin Krukowski reached out to 82.85m.
Sprinters and combined events impress in Meilen
Dutch-based Ajla Del Ponte continued her promising start to the outdoor campaign on home soil in Meilen, Switzerland with 11.38 in the 100m and a Swiss best of 16.67 in the 150m.
Former European U23 champion Noemi Zbaren improved her season’s best to 13.06 in the 100m hurdles ahead of European U20 heptathlon bronze medallist Annik Kalin who set a PB of 13.41. Kalin also came away with a lifetime best of 6.46m in the long jump.
European U20 decathlon champion Simon Ehammer also took two individual wins: 7.60m in the long jump and 14.06 in the 110m hurdles.
Elsewhere in Europe...
In Potsdam, Germany on Friday (19), Kristin Pudenz smashed her lifetime best in the discus with 64.92m. Pudenz moves to third on the 2020 world list behind Croatia's Sandra Perkovic (65.93m) and China's Yang Chen (65.26m).
In the first weekend of competition in Italy this season, European indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi cleared 2.25m in the high jump before three attempts at 2.30m.
In Tel Aviv, European 10,000m champion Lonah Chemtai Salpeter won the 5000m in 15:29.43. Girmaw Amare won the men's 5000m in 13:54.38.
#atletica VAI GIMBO! Il #VIDEO del 2,25 nell'esordio stagionale di Gianmarco Tamberi a #Formia #alto #highjump@Coninews @ItaliaTeam_it @EuroAthletics @WorldAthletics @gianmarcotamber pic.twitter.com/9MpginWwRk
— Atletica Italiana (@atleticaitalia) June 20, 2020