Olympic champion Roje Stona of Jamaica, world record holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, two-time world champion Daniel Ståhl of Sweden, and British record holder Lawrence Okoye headline a stacked lineup of men’s discus showdown set to light up the London Athletics Meet.
Stona, made history at the Paris 2024 Olympics when he clinched a surprise gold medal with a national and Olympic record throw of 70.00m, becoming the first Jamaican athlete to win an Olympic title in a throwing event. The former Commonwealth Games finalist has steadily climbed the ranks and now stands as a serious contender on the global stage.
Standing in his way is the in-form Alekna, the 22-year-old prodigy who owns three of the top five throws in history, including the world record of 75.56m set at the Oklahoma Throws Series in April 2025, making him the first man ever to surpass the 75-metre barrier. Despite a relatively quiet outdoor season limited to U.S. competitions, Alekna remains a formidable force, recently placing second at the NCAA Division 1 Championships with 66.77m.
Swedish powerhouse Daniel Ståhl will also be in the hunt for victory. The Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021 and double world champion (2019, 2023) has been a model of consistency, with a personal best of 71.86m, ranking him seventh all-time. Ståhl has placed second in his two Diamond League appearances this season and will be eager to reclaim the top spot in London.
Adding to the excitement is local favourite Lawrence Okoye, who will have the home crowd firmly behind him. The Croydon Harrier set a new British record of 70.76m earlier this year and sees this competition as a crucial stepping stone toward the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
“The men’s discus is very competitive right now and I’m grateful to be part of that,” said Okoye.
“London is an important part of my build-up for Tokyo. I need to build consistency and confidence, and there’s no better place to do that than at home.”
The field is further bolstered by Kristjan Čeh of Slovenia, the 2022 world champion and reigning European champion. Ranked sixth on the global all-time list with a best of 72.36m, Čeh arrives in London as the form athlete of 2025, unbeaten in recent months with notable wins in Stockholm and Turku.
Germany’s Clemens Prüfer, a 2024 Olympic finalist with a lifetime best of 71.01m, also lines up in this heavyweight contest, rounding out an elite field that could produce one of the greatest discus competitions in modern athletics.
The London Athletics Meet, the world’s largest one-day athletics event, is the 11th stop of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League. With 9.24 million USD in prize money on offer across the season, the series spans 15 elite meetings on four continents, concluding with the Zurich final on August 27-28.
