Karl Axel Härstedt (born 28 February 1987) is a Swedish

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er. A member of the Swedish track and field team at the

2015 IAAF World Championships The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

and at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, he launched his personal best throw of 66.03 m at a national track and field meet in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

nearly a month before the Games. Härstedt currently trains for Malmö Athletics Club (). In 2016 Härstedt won the gold medal in the men's discus throw at the European Throwing Cup held in Arad, Romania. Härstedt competed for Sweden, along with his fellow countryman Daniel Ståhl, in the men's discus throw at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Nearly a month before his maiden Games, he successfully nailed the IAAF Olympic entry standard (65.00) by over a single metre with a personal best of 66.03 at a national track and field meet in

, a vast improvement from his previous mark of 64.72 set in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

one year earlier. Having unexpectedly entered the final round with his only qualifying throw of 63.58, Härstedt unleashed the discus into the field at an initial distance of 54.77, and then extended it powerfully to 62.12 m on the second round. With his next attempt prompting a foul, Härstedt bowed out of the competition in tenth place.

Competition record

References

External links

*
SOK Profile
Swedish male discus throwers Living people Sportspeople from Täby Municipality Athletes from Stockholm County 1987 births World Athletics Championships athletes for Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Malmö AI athletes {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub