The discus circle at Stockholm\u2019s BAUHAUS-galan will be packed with world-class talent this Sunday\u2014but for Swedish fans, the real story lies close to home.<\/p>\n\n
Olympic gold medallist Daniel St\u00e5hl and national record holder Vanessa Kamga return to the capital as carrying home hopes in the men\u2019s and women\u2019s competitions, proudly representing the present and future of Swedish throwing.<\/p>\n\n
For St\u00e5hl, who has already carved out a legendary career with Olympic gold in Tokyo and two World Athletics Championship titles, the focus has shifted this year\u2014not just toward big throws, but smarter planning.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI used to compete like 20\u201322 competitions every year,\u201d St\u00e5hl explains. \u201cBut now I\u2019ve decided to do 14 or 15 this year. Through my career, I\u2019ve always planned around preparing for the World Championships, European Championships, or the Olympics\u2014those big meets where I want to throw far and win medals. That\u2019s always been the goal.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
But no matter how carefully he maps out his calendar, Stockholm is always a fixed point.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d he says. \u201cI grew up here. This is where I was born. My friends and fans are all going to be there to watch. It\u2019s amazing. I\u2019m really excited.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Excitement is something Vanessa Kamga has brought in abundance since her breakthrough fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, where she also shattered the Swedish national record with 65.14m. Still just 26, Kamga\u2019s rise has been sharp\u2014but not sudden. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cI started at 17,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI switched from basketball to track and field. I tried most of the throwing events, but it was discus where I qualified for juniors. I decided to put more time into it, and only a year and a half later, I set the Swedish junior record and qualified for my first European Championships. That was the moment I knew\u2014this is what I\u2019m going to do.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n Now, Kamga enters a new phase of her career\u2014armed with belief, backed by results, and eager to make another leap.<\/p>\n\n \u201cThe biggest thing for me right now is that I\u2019ve ended my past two seasons with a feeling that I\u2019ve got so much more in the tank,\u201d she says. \u201cMy best competitions always come right up until the end of the season\u2014like end of September. The only reason I\u2019ve stopped is because there weren\u2019t any more meets left in Europe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n That hunger, she believes, is about to pay off.<\/p>\n\n \u201cI know I have big throws in me. I feel like something really big is just around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Like St\u00e5hl, Kamga cherishes the chance to compete on home soil at a Diamond League meeting in Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n \u201cFor all my friends in the athletics world to come here and see this beautiful city\u2014it just means a lot. I\u2019m really looking forward to having a home crowd cheering me on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n With the likes of Armand Duplantis, Stahl, Henrik Larsson, Engla Nilsson, and Samuel Pihlstr\u00f6m all competing, Kamga sees her journey as part of something bigger.<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got great momentum in Swedish athletics right now. I think we\u2019re the next big generation\u2014like after Stefan Holm, Kajsa Bergqvist, and the Kallurs. I\u2019m really proud to be a part of that and to celebrate it here in Stockholm.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The discus circle at Stockholm\u2019s BAUHAUS-galan will be packed with world-class talent this...","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":2979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-3013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stockholm-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3014,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}