Olympia 2021: Decathlon world record holder Niklas Kaul sees competitors as favorites

Olympic decathlete Niklas Kaul Gold, silver or bronze? Niklas Kaul would probably be right about a medal of any color at the Tokyo Olympics. As a decathlon world champion, he vehemently refuses to claim it. Is the burden of winning the World Cup too great for the 23-year-old from Mainz? “Partly, partly. On the one hand, it is motivation and gives you the security that you know that I have already managed to be on the podium at the top of a World Cup,” he said in an interview with the German press agency .

On the other hand, the situation is different when you arrive as a world champion and not as a sixth place in the World Cup. “The external perception is different, one is asked more often whether one would be satisfied with a medal or whether it should be gold,” explained Kaul. “You have to free yourself from that.” He therefore avoided questions about the Olympic goal (“All start with zero points”) or he answers boldly: “If you ask me: What can it be? Then a medal.”

For Niklas Kaul, world record holder Kevin Mayer is the favorite

At the same time, he lifts the French world record holder Kevin Mayer very high up on the flag of favorites. The 9,126-point model athlete could not stop Kaul from becoming the youngest decathlon champion in history at the 2019 World Cup in Doha because he had to give up injured. “He is the top favorite for gold or silver,” said Kaul. Then comes Damian Warner: In May, the Canadian in Götzis, Austria, only missed the 9000 point mark by five points, while the young German watched and finished fifth with 8263 points after the pandemic break.

“If you expect Niklas to go towards his best performance, you would put a great burden on him,” said national coach Christopher Hallmann before the Olympic all-around on Wednesday and Thursday. However, he was recently impressed by the physical condition of Kaul and Kai Kazmirek (LG Rhein Wied), who finished fourth in the 2016 Olympics: “Both are in great shape.”

Busemann does not believe in a Kaul medal

The Olympic third party from 1996, Frank Busemann, does not (yet) trust the young Kaul to triumph at the Olympic level. “From a German point of view, I assume that a medal is out of reach – and if it does become one, all the more beautiful,” said the 46-year-old ex-decathlete. “A medal would be a sensation.”

Despite the uncertainty caused by the bumpy decathlon comeback after a 19-month Corona break in Götzis, Kaul does not rule out surpassing his World Cup score of 8,691 in Tokyo. “I expect the outside conditions in Tokyo to be worse than at the World Cup in Doha with the air-conditioned stadium. So a new record would definitely be a huge success,” he said.

Kaul has Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 in mind

Adversity has never discouraged him, rather it has given him an incentive. “At the World Cup, nothing happened at all in the week before the title fight,” said Kaul. The discus flew just 40 meters and no jump succeeded in the pole vault: “In the end, it was precisely these disciplines in which I achieved my best results.” He sees potential for increased performance in the long jump, over 400 meters, in the hurdle sprint and high jump. “That’s where the training went best,” he reported.

Apart from the fact that he did not get on the right track in terms of sport, the Corona break also did the World Cup hero good to come down again. “I enjoyed it,” he confessed, but added: “You haven’t changed as a person in the two-day competition. It will always be that way.”

Although he will celebrate his Olympic premiere on Wednesday and Thursday, he has no stage fright. He will “not be significantly more nervous because it is the Olympic Games”. In any case, it shouldn’t be his last. The summer games in Paris in 2024 and also in Los Angeles in 2028 would appeal to him, even if one could not plan for that long. “Still, you have to look at when and where the Olympic Games are. It is therefore certainly not entirely impossible,” said Kaul.