Swedish athletics has lost one of its biggest profiles.
Marathon runner Kjell-Erik Ståhl has passed away, 79 years old, reports Borås Tidning.
With his legendary race at the World Championship in Helsinki 1983, where he finished fourth, he set a Swedish record with a time of 2.10.38. A record that would last for an impressive 36 years, until 2019 when David Nilsson finally beat it.
Ståhl represented Sweden in two Olympic Games – Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 – and won a total of eight Swedish Championship gold medals in different running distances. In addition, he won the classic Stockholm Marathon twice – 1982 and 1986.
