The first Olympic victory by a German decathlete since 1988 is within reach for Leo Neugebauer. At the 2023 World Championships, he fell from first to fifth place after the night. In Paris, he is doing things differently.
On the way to Olympic gold, the joy of the half-time lead plays no role for decathlete Leo Neugebauer. “The work is not even nearly finished,” said the 24-year-old. The world’s best of the year leads the competition in the Stade de France after the first day with 4,650 points.
“After the pole vault, you know roughly where you are,” said Neugebauer. He set the motto for today’s five disciplines: “Just stay cool and do your thing.”
The German record holder 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. “My body feels very good and I’m looking forward to it. The atmosphere here in the stadium really made me want more,” said the athlete, who competes for VfB Stuttgart. Before going to sleep on Friday evening, he ate a lot of carbohydrates.
Full concentration on the second day
At the World Championships in Budapest a year ago, Neugebauer was also in the lead after day one – but then he fell back to fifth place. He repeatedly emphasized that he had learned from his mistakes. And in Paris, some things went differently.
While he was happy to sign autographs and happily fulfilled many photo requests at the World Championships, he was even more focused in Saint-Denis. He also made his way through the interview zone at a rapid pace – it was time for regeneration. “New mindset, I will learn from my mistakes and then we’ll see what I can do,” said Neugebauer.
That was “shit”
There will be no medal for former world and European champion Niklas Kaul in Paris. The 26-year-old summed up his first day of competition as “shit”. “That’s a very short and very accurate summary,” said Kaul. “I hope that I can somehow get myself a little excited again in the individual disciplines.” 4,041 points mean only 20th place.
An almost-vacationer does well
Till Steinforth, who was nominated later and arrived at short notice, is happy about his twelfth place in his surprising Olympic debut. The journey alone was strange for him. After a short trip to Prague with his girlfriend Emma, he had prepared the camper for a small tour of the Baltic Sea, Hamburg and Amsterdam, among other places, when the call came for the Olympics. He travelled to Paris with just a small amount of luggage, his parents brought the rest. Also there: his girlfriend.
Source: Stern
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