Daniel Stahl, a Swedish athlete with Finnish roots, received support from the audience at Paavo Nurmi Stadium in Turku.
However, the 33-year-old discus thrower withdrew from the competition after three throws.
“Nothing happened, I wasn’t hurt,” D. Stahl, who won the third gold of his career at the World Championship last year, told Iltalehti afterwards.
He said that he will appear in the next competition in Stockholm on Sunday.
“I did heavy squats last week. I feel like my groin is a little stiff. I need a massage. I don’t want to take any chances. The season is long,” explained D.Stahl.
Slovenian Kristjanas Čeh took first place in the competition in Finland. In the presence of his wife, Estonian hammer thrower Anna Maria Čeh, he threw the discus with a best attempt of 69 m 13 cm.
D. Stahl was second, throwing the tool 67 m 40 cm on the second attempt.
Australian Matthew Denny was third – 67 m 26 cm.
It was the first elite discus thrower tournament in Europe this season, with the main competition, the European Championships, taking place in August in England.
In April, several capable discus throwers competed in Ramona, Oklahoma, where Mykolas Alekna set world records last year and the year before.
Ramona, where the competition takes place on an open field, has recorded seven of the top ten shots in the history of the event.
K. Čeh, who had ambitions to achieve a new record this year, was far from his goal in terms of results, and D. Stahl did not go to Oklahoma.
“I don’t want to throw in the wind somewhere. I want to throw in a stadium,” claimed the Olympic and three-time world champion. “I’m not interested in going somewhere and throwing for a Swedish record. I want to achieve that at the Paavo Nurmi Games or in Stockholm.”
