What a twin occurrence of surprises. That was what happened on Friday in Vaxjo local Athletics Field meet in Sweden. In a rare meet, considering covid-19 pandemic, Simon Pettersson summoned the day to throw his personal discus best of 66.93m. A 26 years old 9th Doha 2019 finalist has never thrown beyond 64.53m, the best he achieved in 2018 European Championship in Berlin. He therefore set an European lead in the process.
The discus-only event was made up of a field of athletes predominantly from Vesteinn Hafsteinsson’s training group, including Pettersson.
A throw of 66.93 metres in the final round took the Swede to third in the world in 2020 behind Commonwealth Games champion Fedrick Dacres of Jamaica and Colombia’s Mauricio Ortega.
Pettersson also recorded a further three throws over the 65m line, with his best throw also a personal best which puts him fourth on the Swedish all-time list, still topped by team mate and world champion Daniel Ståhl.
Speaking to SVT, Pettersson said: “We had very good conditions today, brilliant sun and good wind”.
“You lose the wind when you are in an arena, it is difficult to compare with a championship, but you have to do the results to think you can do it”.
“It feels like a step in the right direction, I am happy that it became a personal record.”
In the women’s event, former European under-23 shot put champion Fanny Roos came out on top with a throw of 52.76m.
