Daniel Ståhl throws the discus in the men’s qualifying round of the World Athletics Championships early Monday Finnish time. You can find live broadcasts, highlights, the competition schedule, interesting news and topics on ‘s competition page.
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah…
A familiar tune breaks the silence of Växjö’s new athletics hall. Frederik’s rhythmic exclamations echo through the empty hall.
The sound comes Daniel Ståhl from the phone. The world’s best discus thrower listens to Tsingis Khan while tying his throwing shoes in the locker room. He has always carried his Finnishness with pride.
– Welcome, can we speak a little Finnish? No one here understands the roof.
Ståhl laughs loudly and continues in the Turku dialect.
– I try to speak Finnish here whenever I can.
Daniel Ståhl’s mother is Finnish, and even after the Olympic victory, the “grandmother” who received greetings via TV cameras still lives in Turku. Swedish-Finnishness has contributed to the success. But Ståhl’s journey among the legends of the sport is also a story of Icelandic coaching wizardry, spiritual growth and immense pressure.
Watch Sportliv’s mini doc Daniel Ståhl. The story continues after the video embed.
Great training conditions
Frederik falls silent and Ståhl heads to the full-scale football hall next to the athletics arena wearing his throwing shoes. The hall is one of the biggest reasons why the top athletes in Sweden’s throwing sports spend time in Växjö.
Ståhl lives on the outskirts of Stockholm but often spends a couple of weeks at a time in Växjö. In the soccer hall, you can make full-length throws all year round, in perfect conditions.
– It’s a really big advantage to be able to throw properly here, compared to having to throw against the wall. Here you can see how the puck flies, Ståhl explains.
However, the most important reason for staying in Växjö is Vésteinn Hafsteinsson and his tough training group. For example, the Olympic runner-up gives Olympic champion Ståhl training resistance Simon Pettersson.
Hired by the Swedish Athletics Federation and the Olympic Committee, Hafsteinsson’s eyes fell on a then 17-year-old frame Swedish youth a good ten years ago.
– When I saw him for the first time, my attention was drawn to his size, his long and strong arms, and a huge amount of untapped energy. There was a lot of laughter and joking around him, but also a strong will, Hafsteinsson recalls.
“Vésteinn made me a competitor”
Hafsteinsson saw the potential of the two-meter Ståhl, and immediately understood that he could have a brute in his hands who could still do great things. He had seen the same thing In Gert Kanterwhich Hafsteinsson coached to World Cup and Olympic gold.
Ståhl did not hesitate to respond positively to Hafsteinsson’s proposal to join the practice squad.
– He said that I will become an Olympic champion and world champion, but it will take ten years. You just have to trust what I say. You can’t refuse such an offer, Ståhl laughs.
The coaching relationship started with Hafsteinsson getting the basics right. Ståhl was given an exercise program to follow, learned to eat and rest properly, and adopted a healthier lifestyle.
After that, we familiarized ourselves with throwing technique and gaining competition experience. During the first year, Hafsteinsson sent his protégé to all the competitions he could find, both in Sweden and abroad.
Ståhl had never been at his best in junior competitions and, according to Haftsteinsson, could not perform under pressure. He had to learn how to compete.
– Vésteinn made me a competitor. I’m a completely different person today. When I was young, I was really insecure and cautious and I respected my opponents too much, says Ståhl.
– Now I know how strong I am mentally. Like in Tokyo – I knew exactly what I had to do. When you enter the ring, you have to think as little as possible. If you have ten different things running through your head, your body shuts down, you start to tense up and nothing comes of it.
Spiritual battle
Daniel Ståhl describes himself as an ordinary young Swedish man at the time he met Vésteinn Hafsteinsson.
– Mentally, I was a weak young guy, an unstable punk, still quite a child, so Vésteinn got to start from scratch with me.
Hafsteinsson set out to assemble a support group, which included, among other things, a spiritual coach, a nutritionist, as well as massage therapists and physiotherapists. Expert help was received from the Olympic Committee, the Athletics Federation and Ståhl’s club Spårvägen IF.
One of Hafsteinsson’s most important tasks was to make Ståhl learn and understand what a full-time sports life means. In the beginning, a lot of emphasis was placed on the social and spiritual side.
– It was difficult for Daniel not to do everything else besides sports, such as studying, going to work and so on. A top athlete also has to figure out life outside of sports.
The exercises went without any problems and Ståhl followed the training program to the letter. However, the big changes to the life he was used to brought problems.
– It was a big change for Daniel. He had lived with his father and mother and now he had to move because of sports. This was difficult for him.
When he suddenly became a celebrity and a star in 2014, he wondered if he even wanted to continue Vésteinn Hafsteinsson
In addition to this, success began to come quite quickly, and Ståhl found himself in a completely new situation. The publicity came as a shock for which he was not prepared.
– When he suddenly became a celebrity and a star in 2014, he wondered if he wanted to continue at all. He has really had to fight with this issue, says Hafsteinsson.
Final decision
At the Rio Olympics in 2016, Ståhl missed his new record by four and a half meters and was eliminated from the final. After the season, he made his final decision.
– That winter, he decided that this is what he wanted to do, and that he was going to go all the way. But it was by no means self-evident and because of this, he felt pretty bad between 2014 and 2017, the coach reveals.
Spiritual growth has been a part of a whole, where every part has been dependent on each other. The mental, social and physical aspects have been worked on equally.
The insecure vicar has developed into a confident top athlete who enjoys being the center of attention. Ståhl emphasizes that there is a lot of work behind it.
– When I was younger, I didn’t enjoy the attention, but I’ve grown into that role. Today, I enjoy feeling like I’m the best.
– I have taken huge steps forward, but this has been a long process. You have to feel at home both on racetracks, in training and outside of sports, in normal life. I think we have succeeded really well in that, says Ståhl, thanking his spiritual coach.
Intense pressure
Success started to come at the adult level in 2017, when Ståhl won the World Championship silver in London. This was followed by European Championship silver in Berlin a year later – until he was ready for the highest podium.
At the World Championships in Doha 2019, Ståhl won the World Championship gold and at the same time became the favorite for the Tokyo Olympics. The pressure to succeed increased.
– Right after the World Cup gold, it started to be heard here and there that “Daniel Ståhl will win the Olympic gold”. Neighbors, people on the street and the press said that as long as I could make even an average throw, I would win without a problem. I heard this every day and the mental pressure was enormous, says Ståhl.
– Especially in the last couple of weeks before the Games, I received daily messages and e-mails from people who wrote that I would win, nothing else. If I had finished second or third, the result would have been disappointing. That’s why I felt more relief than joy at the moment of victory.
Vésteinn Hafsteinsson’s promise ten years earlier came true. Hard work and a joint journey had led to Olympic gold.
The final was a show for the Swedes as Ståhl’s training partner Simon Pettersson won a surprise silver. Hafsteinsson’s team includes two of the world’s best discus throwers.
– They have learned to utilize each other’s strengths. Simon is an exercise junkie who can keep up with long workouts, and that also makes Daniel try harder when he wants to keep up. Daniel always throws far in training as well, and that in turn gets Simon fired up. They have found a balance that supports them both.
Half Finnish
Throwing practice is coming to an end. Pettersson and Ståhl collect the pucks together from the soccer field. The box is filled with red, blue, green, yellow and wood-colored throwing equipment. Suddenly Ståhl picks up a yellow puck.
– I threw Olympic gold with this!
In the Olympic final, the puck flew 68.90. My record is recorded as 71.86 and now the sights are on the world record. Jürgen Schultz threw the oldest standing men’s track and field ME of 74.08 in 1986.
– I have two goals left: European Championship gold and the world record. Of course, I still want to win in the World Cup and Olympic Games, but I already have gold in those, so there is no need to win them anymore. Now I’m aiming for 75 meters.
Coach Hafsteinsson describes his champion protégé’s throwing technique as “pretty good”. There are all the conditions to break the world record, as long as the technique is still fine-tuned to be able to utilize Ståhl’s entire power reserve.
But according to the coach, ME has to give birth quite soon.
– It has to come preferably already this summer. He doesn’t have that many years left at the top. He can certainly pick up medals in prestigious competitions for a few more years, but the world record must come this summer, says Hafsteinsson.
The safety net is folded against the wall, the puck box is taken to storage and Daniel Ståhl goes through the training with Hafsteinsson. In the evening, we decide to do strength training at the gym.
Ståhl switches to Finnish again.
– Should we go eat?
Daniel Ståhl has grown up between two cultures all his life. The connection with his Finnish relatives is close, and he talks especially with his grandmother almost every day to maintain his Finnish language.
He himself says that he is a mixture of both cultures, both equally. Just as much Finnish as Swedish. The special characteristics of cultures come to the surface in different situations.
– When I train and compete, I do it with guts. Then, for example, in a restaurant I’m more Swedish, I chat and I’m nice. But I definitely got my will to win from the Finnish side. I just have to win. Let’s go with the content!
Text: Magnus Eklöv
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