{"id":1040005893,"date":"2025-06-24T09:59:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/?p=1040002312"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:43:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T10:43:35","slug":"discus-giants-clash-at-london-diamond-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/meetings\/discus-giants-clash-at-london-diamond-league-1040005893\/","title":{"rendered":"Discus giants clash at London Diamond League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic champion, world record-holder, world champion and British record-holder go head to head on July 19<\/p>\n

Olympic champion Roje Stona of Jamaica, world champion Daniel St\u00e5hl of Sweden, world record holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, British record-holder Lawrence Okoye, plus European champion Kristjan \u010ceh of Slovenia will clash in one of the best discus fields ever assembled at the London Athletics Meet on Saturday July 19.<\/p>\n

Stona was a surprise gold medallist in Paris. The 26-year-old \u2013 who finished sixth in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham \u2013 broke the Olympic record with a personal best throw of 70.00m to take victory and in doing so, became the first Jamaican to earn the title of Olympic champion in a throwing event.<\/p>\n

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Roj\u00e9 Stona (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St\u00e5hl, Olympic gold medallist in Tokyo 2021, finished seventh in Paris. He is a two-time world champion (2019 and 2023) and his national record of 71.86m is the equal-seventh best of all time. He has finished runner-up in his two Diamond League outings this season to date, Doha (67.06m) and Stockholm (69.53m).<\/p>

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World record-holder and Olympic silver medallist Alekna owns three of the top five throws in history. His 75.56m best came at the famous Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational at Millican Field in Ramona on April 13, making him the first athlete to surpass 75m. The 22-year-old - who was World Championships silver medallist in 2022 and bronze medallist in 2023 \u2013 has yet to compete outside of the USA this year and most recently finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships (66.77m).<\/p>\n

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Lawrence Okoye (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Okoye \u2013 alongside Scottish record holder Nick Percy (67.86m) \u2013 adds British interest. The three-time Olympian, Commonwealth Games silver medallist and European Championships bronze medallist in 2022, threw an impressive 70.76m in Ramona in April, the first British athlete to exceed the 70m mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men\u2019s discus is very competitive right now and I\u2019m grateful to be part of that,\u201d said the Croydon Harrier. \u201cI had a great few months in Australia at the start of this year and that\u2019s set me up well for this summer. My new PB and British record in Ramona was a long time coming. I love throwing, but I\u2019m continually looking to progress and that performance really gave me belief in terms of what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

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Kristjan Ceh (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLondon is an important part of my preparation for this year\u2019s World Championships in Tokyo. I\u2019ve always said that being selected for a major champs doesn\u2019t mean much on its own, it\u2019s about what you do when you get there, so I need to build consistency and confidence to hit my targets. I\u2019m looking forward to returning to the Olympic Stadium where I have the perfect opportunity to throw far and to be competitive with the backing of a home support.\u201d<\/p>

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\u010ceh, ranked sixth on the global all-time list with a best of 72.36m (May 2025), won the 2022 world title and was the world silver medallist in 2023 before finishing fourth in the Olympics. Since finishing third in his Diamond League opener in Doha he\u2019s unbeaten in 2025 to date, his most recent victories including the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm (69.73m) and at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku (70.61m). Undoubtedly the form athlete, his three best ever throws have come in the last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic champion, world record-holder, world champion and British record-holder go head to head on July 19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1039990926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_championship":0,"wds_primary_country":0,"wds_primary_sports":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"championship":[],"country":[],"sports":[36015,36002],"class_list":["post-1040005893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meetings","category-news","sports-discus-throw","sports-throws"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/meetings\/discus-giants-clash-at-london-diamond-league-1040005893\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Discus giants clash at London Diamond League","url":"http:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/meetings\/discus-giants-clash-at-london-diamond-league-1040005893\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/meetings\/discus-giants-clash-at-london-diamond-league-1040005893\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Mykolas-Alekna-250x250.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Mykolas-Alekna.jpg"},"articleSection":"Meetings","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Athletics Weekly"}],"creator":["Athletics Weekly"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Athletics Weekly","logo":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AW-logo_with-website.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-06-24T08:59:35Z","datePublished":"2025-06-24T08:59:35Z","dateModified":"2025-07-31T10:43:35Z"},"rendered":"