Newcomers from the national team camp in Berkeley, outside San Francisco, Daniel Ståhl and Simon Pettersson meet the press outside their new campus accommodation at the University of Oregon.
Sweden’s by far the two largest athletes, both around two meters long, will next week, just like the other athletes in the WC, live in a student corridor with rooms of about ten square meters and 90 centimeters wide beds.
Federation captain Kajsa Bergqvist has been of the opinion that it may be relevant with a special solution for the two discus throwers – but it should not be necessary if they themselves have a say.
– It’s like living on a rope month. It will be like a military college and I think it’s fun. There are no strange things, says Daniel Ståhl.
– Daniel Ståhl is ready for a new World Cup – this time without his successful coach Vesteinn Hafsteinsson.
Photo: Christine Olsson / TT
The rooms and beds are not too small?
– No, they feel good. We’re not complaining. As long as we have a roof over our heads, it’s calm.
No, even though we are talking about the reigning gold and silver medalists from the Olympics, they are not diva fashions.
– I think it’s nice so far. I like hard beds. It is perfect for me, adds Simon Pettersson and continues:
– You have to roll around a bit. It works well. I like when it’s a bit spartan, you should not pamper yourself too much.
The more boring: that they can do without Vesteinn Hafsteinsson who went into the wall just before the World Cup. The Icelander has had enormous success with, above all, Daniel Ståhl but also Simon Pettersson and Fanny Roos in the shot put and was named leader of the year at the Sports Gala last winter.
A little rest is said to have done Hafsteinsson good, but he is absolutely missing in the Swedish camp in Eugene.
– It’s incredibly boring of course. But it was the right decision by him to be at home and take it easy and recharge his batteries for the future, says Ståhl who has never competed in a major championship without his coach.
– He has educated me and preached that regardless of whether he is with or not, I am always ready. And I feel that too.
– It will be the first time. So it’s going to be a tough challenge.
How much do you usually talk to each other during competition?
– Sometimes I usually go to him, when I feel like it, to get technical tips or a feeling about what we have decided to do before. But in normal cases, I do not approach him at all, not so often.
– “It may not be a medal situation,” says Simon Pettersson and lowers his expectations of himself.
Photo: Joel Marklund / Bildbyrån
Simon Pettersson has had a swaying season and says that you probably should not have such high medal hopes for him, despite last year’s Olympic silver. Like Ståhl, he has nevertheless reported to Hafsteinsson about how things went in Berkeley, where he says he has found stability in the throw.
– We have had good rehearsals in recent weeks. But it’s sad that he can not join. It is right to stay at home, it is still health that comes first, he says and continues:
– As I understand it, these are quite important days he has had and rested quite well. He feels that he made the right decision and it feels good for us that he feels better.
If Pettersson takes a new championship medal, it would be at least as sensational as in Tokyo – and some new gold for Daniel Ståhl, who is the reigning world and Olympic champion, is perhaps not something we should expect either because the competition has become tougher in the world elite. Not least because of the Slovenian Kristjan Ceh who has 5-1 against Ståhl in mutual meetings this year.
– You can say this: In 2019, I was the thunder favorite and won almost all competitions. Then I had never won a global medal before. Then it is clear that you have a lot of pressure on yourself, but now I do not feel it because now I have won the Olympics and World Cup gold, says Ståhl.
For Daniel Ståhl and Simon Pettersson, the World Cup begins with qualifiers on Monday night.
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Saturday’s athletics promoter from the WC in Eugene
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