The three-time world and one-time Olympic champion needed just one attempt to reach the automatic qualification distance earlier this week, but by the time he registered his opening throw in the final of 67.68m, he was already under pressure, having watched Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania throw a championship record 69.89m with his maiden attempt.
Moments later, Slovenia's Kristjan Ceh then increased the record to 70.83m, as Stahl sat fourth after one throw each. The Swede was unable to improve with his second attempt as he slipped to fifth, then saw his third throw drop well short after sending it too high. The gold slipped further away as Ceh then threw 72.51m to extend his advantage.
Stahl did manage to put in his best throw in round four, but 68.22m was only enough to take him back into fourth place, and that is where he stayed, missing out on bronze to Germany's Henrik Janssen, who threw over a metre further, as Alekna took silver behind the remarkable Ceh. Silver in 2018 remains Stahl's only European medal.
There was disappointment for Maja Askag, who was unable to replicate her best jump in qualifying of 14.21m in the women's triple jump final. In the third round, the 23-year-old produced a 14.04m effort, which agonsingly left her in ninth place, and just two centrimetres short of the top eight, meaning she missed the cut and would not get another three attempts to fight for the medals.
Also in the field, Kajsa Roth went in the women's pole vault final, fresh from clearing a personal best of 4.50m in the first round. But much like Askag, the 20-year-old had her best performance in qualification, clearing 4.45m but unable to go higher, bowing out in a creditable 10th place in her first major final.
Three Swedes exit 200m at semi-final stage
In the men's 200m, Erik Erlandsson got off to a good start from lane three in his heat, coming off the bend in fourth place, which he held until he crossed the line in 20.89. Linus Pihl ran the opposite style in the second heat with near-identical results - he finished strongly to take fourth in 20.88. A slower third and final heat ultimately meant both Swedes had qualified for the evening's semi-finals.
Returning for the evening session, Erlandsson ran strongly from one of the inside lanes but struggled to compete with the stronger calibre of runners, finishing sixth but making a solid improvement to his time, running 20.67. Pihl was in lane two for the third semi-final, and a strong bend saw him overtake a couple of his competitors and hold on for sixth place in another improved time, 20.79.
A 100m semi-finalist earlier in the week, Henrik Larsson entered the 200m at that stage, and from the outside lane, he finished strongly to clock 20.48, but fifth place meant he would not be a non-automatic qualifer.
In the morning session, Louise Ekman put herself among the leading contenders in the women's high jump, clearing 1.91m with the last of five first-time clearances and no fouls to finish in first place in qualification.
Having improved her personal best to 1.96m earlier this year, Ekman will be back for the final in the evening session on 15th August, but she will not be joined by competriots Ellen Ekholm (1.88m) and Engla Nilsson (1.84m), who fell short of the automatic qualification height.
Magnusson qualifies amid chaotic steeplechase heats
There was real disappointment for two of the three Swedish athletes in the men's 3000m steeplechase heats. After getting himself into a good position early on in the first race, things took a turn for Simon Sundstrom when he fell around the 1000m-mark, catching his lead leg on the barrier. The 28-year-old was quickly up and was working his way back to the pack when the pace lifted, and he quickly was detached again, calling it a day with just over 1km to go.
Vidar Johansson and Leo Magnusson were hoping for a smoother run in race two, and both were safely among the main bunch until Johansson pulled up injured shortly after taking the water jump just past the halfway mark. 11 runners were left in the main bunch with 700m to go, at which point Magnusson put in an injection of pace down the outside to go third as they took the bell. He cemented his place among the leaders on the final lap, finishing fifth in a time of 8:35.12, less than a second down on the winning time of Spain's Daniel Arce.
In the women's 400m, Elna Wester managed to reach the semi-finals despite finishing last in her heat, but sadly, repeating that trick was never going to be enough to reach the final. She finished her race eighth of eight, yet there was cause for celebration once again, as she ran a personal best of 52.02.
Uhlin completes decathlon with positive second day
First out in the yellow and blue vest in the morning session was Emil Uhlin, who was sitting in 19th place on 3930 points after the first day of the decathlon. Starting the second day with the 110m hurdles, Uhlin finished sixth in the heat for weaker hurdlers, posting an 18th-best time of 15.03, before throwing 42.49m in the discus, the 16th-best in the competition.
The eighth event for Uhlin was another of his best, the pole vault, in which he landed first-time clearances of 4.60m and 4.80m before clearing a season's best 5.00m, again at the first time of asking. He had three failures at 5.10m to finish joint second in the event and go 17th overall.
In the penultimate event, the javelin, the 26-year-old reverted to form by finishing 18th and dropping back to 18th overall, though a best effort of 52.22m was another season's best. After two full days of action, the 20 men left from the 25 who started took to the track for the 1500m, and Uhlin put in another strong showing, tracking the early pacesetters before opening a gap on the rest of the pack to take fifth place, in 4:23.75.