Swedish discus thrower Daniel Ståhl can not only throw a 2 kilogram disk over 70 meters, but he can also deadlift some serious weight.
Ståhl has an impressive resume that includes competing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, finishing in second place at the 2017 World Championships, and also earning second place at the European Championships in 2018. In June 2017 he threw a disk 71.86 meters in June, resulting in a national record and the farthest discus throw in the world since 2013.
But today, it isn’t his discus throwing that has got our attention. The 27-year-old recently showed off a massive deadlift training session where he pulled 330kg/727lbs. (Thanks to Reddit user sAInh0 for sharing it in the powerlifting subreddit.)
Ståhl is 6 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs about 145kg/320 lbs — if we compare Ståhl to other competitive powerlifters in the same weight class, he’s pulling some seriously elite level weight. For example, the lift below is just 5 kilos short of the European Powerlifting Federation’s record in the deadlift.
Check out Ståhl’s 330-kilo deadlift below:
[Check out these 13 undeniable benefits of deadlifts]
As for how training a heavy deadlift can benefit discus throwing, Chad Wesley Smith at Juggernaut Training Systems describes a throwers training as focused around three things: “throwing, jumping, and explosive/ballistic strength exercises.” A strong deadlift, of course, is a terrific way to build power and explosiveness and it comes as no surprise that this world class thrower is capable of a world class pull.
Plus, discus throwing just looks damn cool, and there’s a decent chance you haven’t seen a thrower in action before. Take a look at this 68.68-meter throw Ståhl made this week at the IAAF Diamond League event in Brussells this week.
[The discus throw has some similarities to the Scottish hammer throw — check out our guide to nailing the hammer throw!]
We’re not sure if Ståhl will ever take the platform at a powerlifting meet, but we’re confident that if he ever does go that route he’ll do just fine.
Featured image from @stahlhoff Instagram page.
