Daniel Stahl came out on top of a discus competition that not only decided the world title but will probably be considered one of the best head-to-head contests ever, the Swede regaining the crown he had won in 2019 with a championship record of 71.46m on Monday.
His regular rival and defending champion Kristjan Ceh, from Slovenia, led after the first round with 68.31m and, notably wearing a grey cap, improved to 66.27m with his next throw followed by a third-round foul.
Meanwhile, Stahl was struggling to find his best form during the first three rounds with only 66.58m to his name at the halfway point and lay in fourth place.
However, things started to click into place for Stahl in round four and he propelled himself into the lead with a throw of 69.37m, aided by a small but vocal and enthusiastic group of Swedish fans respondent in yellow T-shirts in the stands just behind the discus circle.
Not to be forgotten, Lithuania’s European champion and 2022 European Athletics Rising Star of the Year Mykolas Alekna also improved in the fourth round to 68.85m and keep up the pressure on the last two world champions.
None of the leading trio could improve in the fifth round and so, with no surprises further down the order to disrupt the leading trio, it was left to Alekna to try to move up the standings with his last throw.
It was not to be but his 68.07m, exactly the same as his fifth-round distance, meant he finished with his final three throws going over 68 metres.
How to respond to Kristjan Ceh breaking 70 metres in the sixth round?
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 21, 2023
Daniel Stahl smashes the championship record with 71.46m with the very last throw of the discus final. 🤯
Ice in his veins! 🥶 #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/iyNUzocHpI
Up next was Ceh, who had his own contingent of supporters in the crowd and with an almighty heave sent his 2kg implement out to 70.02m to regain the top slot and ensure that, for a couple of minutes more, he continued to be called the world champion.
With the spotlight now on Stahl, the Swede responded magnificently and sent the discus out to a massive 71.46m, the third best throw of his career in terms of distance and many, including Stahl himself later, would say that intrinsically it was his best considering the airless and humid conditions of the Hungarian capital’s National Athletics Centre.
Stahl's winning distance also added 33cm onto Ceh’s championship record from last year in Eugene.
"This was my best performance ever. I had so much focus, I would say 1000 per cent on the last throw after I saw Kristjan threw 70.02m. I said to myself, 'I'm not going to give up and will try to go hard as possible.' I have long legs and arms and I tried to execute the most powerful move, but also enjoy it," said Stahl.
"It was an amazing final and I'm really proud now of the record. After the throw, I had the chance to let my emotions out. I'm a two-time world champion and I couldn't be happier," he added.
"Of course, my expectations were really high. I knew I was physically really prepared even though one month before the World Championships I was struggling with technique," reflected the ever-stoic Ceh.
"In the end everything came together and I knew that I had 70 metres in me, which I showed on the last throw. However, I knew I still probably wouldn't win because Daniel performs really well under pressure and the crowd was cheering him a lot," added Ceh.
The discus clean sweep were the only European medals on the third night of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 but there were many other creditable performances.
Swoboda and Zhoya the top Europeans
Ewa Swoboda finished as the leading European in the 100m final, Poland's former European indoor 60m champion finishing sixth in 10.97, just three-hundredths off her best set five weeks ago. USA's Sha'Carri Richardson won in the championship record 10.65.
France’s Sasha Zhoya couldn’t repeat his semi-final form – which saw him shave two-hundredths off his personal best when running 13.15 just 90 minutes before his second outing of the night – in the 110m hurdles final but the 2023 European U23 champion last month still led home a trio of European hurdlers in sixth place in 13.26.
USA’s Grant Holloway won in 12.96 for his third consecutive world title over the barriers.
Karsten Warholm made running 47.09 – a time only he and one other athlete have beaten this season – look consummately easy as he took the last of three 400m semi-finals in style to go through to the final on Wednesday as the fastest qualifier in the Hungarian capital.
He’s ready. 🥵
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 21, 2023
Karsten Warholm 🇳🇴 runs the fastest ever 400m hurdles semifinal at the #WorldAthleticsChamps. ⚡️
He’s going for a record third world title in Budapest! pic.twitter.com/B3sbRfodYm
“Surely there is going to be someone who challenges me [in the final] but today it was very good, and I felt strong. The truth is that I ran a bit faster than I wanted to but what can I do when the others are too running like hell too?” said the world record-holder and two-time former world champion.
Two other Europeans will also line up alongside Warholm in the final: Estonia’s Rasmus Magi and Germany’s Joshua Abuaku.
Femke Bol bounced back from her Saturday night disaster – when she stumbled and collapsed to the track five metres from the line with the Netherlands looking set to win the mixed 4x400m relay gold – to progress to Tuesday’s 400m hurdles semi-finals as the faster first round qualifier in 53.39.
“I do not want to talk about what happened last Saturday. This time I was feeling OK on the track. I came here to do my best, but obviously not in the preliminaries. I hope that I'll be able to put on the track everything I've got, but it will not be easy,” said a relieved Bol, after cementing her role as the gold medal favourite over the barriers with a run that was the quickest ever seen in a world championships first round.
Poland’s 2022 European Athletics Championships silver medallist Natalia Kaczmarek was the fastest women in the 400m semis with 49.50, just two-hundredths away from her recent personal best and the fastest ever semi in world championships history, and she will head a quartet of European runners in Wednesday's final.
World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 full results and timetable can be found here.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics