Leo Neugebauer is well on his way to winning the first German Olympic decathlon medal since 1996. The world’s best athlete of the year is on course for gold. For one of his colleagues, the medals are a long way away.
Decathlete Leo Neugebauer is halfway on course for gold at the Olympic Games in Paris. The world’s best of the year leads the competition in the Stade de France after the first day with 4,650 points.
The 24-year-old has a lead of 42 points over Ayden Owens-Delerme from Puerto Rico and 62 points over the Norwegian European Championship runner-up Sander Skotheim. Fourth place goes to Tokyo Olympic champion Damian Warner from Canada with 4,561 points.
“The stadium is crazy. It’s an honor to be able to compete here,” said Neugebauer on ARD. “I can’t complain. I had a great time (over 400 meters) and performed very well.”
Like Holdorf and Schenk?
In the final 400-meter race on Friday, Neugebauer was delighted with his season’s best time of 47.70 seconds. He raised his arms and blew kisses towards the stands. In his German record at the beginning of June, Neugebauer achieved 4,685 points; in Saint-Denis he is just behind this mark.
Neugebauer has the best chance of winning the first German decathlon medal in 28 years. Back then, Frank Busemann won silver. After Willi Holdorf in 1964 and Christian Schenk in 1988, Neugebauer could be the third German to win Olympic gold.
As number 1 in the world, Neugebauer is the top candidate for gold. At the World Championships in Budapest a year ago, he had fallen from first place to fifth place at halftime. The athlete, who competes for VfB Stuttgart, has learned from this. “I will learn from my mistakes and then we’ll see what I can do tomorrow,” he said. The focus now is on recovery.
Kaul loses ground
For former world and European champion Niklas Kaul, medals are a long way off, even though he is at his best on the second day. The 26-year-old from USC Mainz struggled repeatedly in the first half of the decathlon: 4,041 points mean only 20th place. Strangely, before Kaul’s 400-meter race, the stadium was so loud because of the next gold medal from swimming star Léon Marchand that the race could only start after a delay and after a request for quiet. “Overall, it just didn’t go well at all. I don’t really know why,” said Kaul.
Till Steinforth, who was nominated later and arrived at short notice, is doing well. After five disciplines, Steinforth has 4,336 points and is in twelfth place. The 22-year-old all-rounder from SV Halle is replacing Manuel Eitel, who was unable to compete at short notice.
Following the elimination of French decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer, compatriot Makenson Gletty is now even more in the spotlight. The European Championship third-place finisher is in tenth place with 4,381 points just before the halfway point.
Source: Stern
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