“Not worthy of a world championship”
Flow rain: World Cup final becomes a slide
21.09.2025 – 5:12 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
Curiosive end of the World Athletics World Cup: At the discus final, the weather was particularly important. A Swede chose the winner.
In the middle of Tokyo, the discus launchers experienced a final that was less of sporty perfection, but rather of the weather. The softened ring made the World Cup decision into a tremor in which even tennis socks and jogging shoes were used. While the German starter Mika Sosna and Henrik Janssen failed due to the conditions, the Swede Daniel Ståhl took the last chance and got gold in discus throwing.
Ståhl secured the title late in the evening at 11:06 p.m. local time – in a stadium that hardly had any spectators at the time. At 70.47 meters, he made the decisive throw in the last attempt.
National coach Markus Münch spoke of a “lottery”. His protégés had no solution for the wet ring: at 58.60 meters, Sosna only came to eleven, Janssen remained without a valid attempt and landed in twelve.
Münch had already criticized the conditions before the competition. He explained that in the end it would not be the strongest, but the one who best gets along with the ring. “Unfortunately, it is not worthy of a world championship,” he said.
The third attempt by the Austrian Lukas Weißheidinger showed how risky the situation was. He slipped in the ring and fell on his left arm. The 33-year-old was able to continue.