David Storl at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow (© Getty Images)
Two-time world shot put champion David Storl has announced his retirement from the sport.
In an international career that spanned 15 years, Storl won 19 medals at global or continental championships. Along with his world titles in 2011 and 2013, his medal haul includes three outdoor European titles and a European indoor gold.
He is also one of a select few athletes to have won world titles at the U18, U20 and senior level.
As a prodigious young thrower, Storl won the 2007 world U18 title in Ostrava, then took world U20 gold one year later in Bydgoszcz. In Daegu just three years later, aged just 21 at the time, Storl won his first senior global title, becoming the youngest man in history to win a world shot put title.
He successfully defended his world title in 2013. In between time, he won the European title in 2012 and earned silver medals at the Olympic Games and World Indoor Championships that same year.
He went on to win the 2014 and 2016 European title, as well as the 2015 European indoor title. At a world level, he earned silver at the 2014 and 2018 World Indoor Championships and at the 2015 World Championships.
Storl’s last major championships medal came at the 2019 European Indoor Championships, where he earned silver.
He suffered a herniated disc in 2021, which hampered his ability to train and compete in recent years. 2022 was his final full season, one which ended with him winning the German title with a season’s best of 20.32m.
He set his outdoor PB of 22.20m in Lausanne in 2015, and his indoor PB of 21.88m in Istanbul in 2012.
“There’s not one single highlight to point to,” said Storl. “I’ve just had a great time and it's a culmination of memories and moments you capture and reflect on afterwards that I will try and take with me.
“I can only thank all of my supporters over the years. My first coach, Christian Sperling; my long-time coach Sven Lang I thank wholeheartedly for navigating me through a very difficult period, and my last coach, Wilko Schaa, who inherited a big pile of shards in an athlete, with many niggles and who despite all that managed to get me to competitions in one piece, which definitely wasn't easy and I probably owe him an apology or two for some things that happened along the way, but that's just the run of things.”
World Athletics
