Daniel Ståhl reminded everyone why he is the world number one discus thrower with a fabulous 71.37m throw on home soil at the Sollentuna Grand Prix in Sweden.

 

It was a second best ever throw for the 27-year-old and the 14th best in history, but it was initially given as a red flag after his heel appeared to have been placed narrowly outside the throwing circle.

Officials later measured the distance of the third round effort and allowed it to stand after a protest.

While Ståhl was close to his own 71.86m national record, Kalle Berglund beat one that had stood for 45 years in the rarely-run 2000m.

Berglund, who ran 3.33 in the world 1500m final and 3.53 for the mile last June added a third Swedish best to his collection in a time of 4:59.71, beating the 5:02 mark of 1976 Olympic steeplechase champion Andreas Garderud.

In the same race, Britain’s Neil Gourley ran third in 5:00.73 to go second on the Scottish all-time list.

A host of other Brits opened up their seasons with Daryll Neita winning the 100m in 11.65 and Rabah Yousif and Emily Diamond both third in the 400m in times of 47.65 and 54.27 respectively.

Moving up from one lap to two and Swedish record holder Andreas Kramer was just two hundredths of a second outside his 1:45.03 800m best, finishing four tenths clear of nearest competitor Elliot Giles. Dan Rowden and Jake Wightman ran exactly the same time of 1:45.55 behind them.

In the women’s equivalent, an incredible finish from Spain’s Esther Guerrero saw the 30-year-old open her season with a 2:00.56 personal record and beat Britain’s Adelle Tracey (2:01.98).

Elsewhere in the field, shot putter Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri set a new outdoor PR of 21.57m, and seven first-time clearances saw Erika Kinsey rewarded with a best of 1.92m in the high jump.

Perhaps the closest race of the day came when Linn Soderholm won the women’s 1500m with a new 4:13.04 best in dramatic fashion, just pipping rival Hanna Hermansson on the line when it looked like the long-time leader had found a second wind to hold on.

A full set of results can be viewed here. The next and final event of the Folksam Grand Prix Series will take place in Gothenburg on Saturday 29 August and you can watch it live on RunnerSpace.