“Pain just too big”
World Cup out for German athletics ace
20.09.2025 – 10:30 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
It is not the season of Till Steinforth. The German decathlon has to leave the World Athletics Championship again.
Before the World Athletics Championship for the German decathlon Till Steinforth really started, it ended again: the 23-year-old had to cancel his competition after three disciplines because he suffers from groin problems.
“After consultation with the coaching team, the doctors and my family, I have to end the World Cup early in the heart,” said Steinforth.
The athlete had already undergone a groin surgery in the summer and was then unable to prepare for the World Cup optimally. Nevertheless, he felt a positive development in advance. Steinforth said that he was “better from day to day” that the pain had become less. In the training camp in front of the World Cup, he felt “really good”.
In the competition, however, he found that the “pain was simply too big”. After the 100-meter start, the long jump and the shot put, he took 22nd place with 2,367 points and remained below his possibilities.
While the World Cup has ended for Steinforth, the Olympic second Leo Neugebauer underlined its medal ambitions in the absence of another competitor. After the first three disciplines, the 25-year-old took second place. In the shot put, Neugebauer reached the second best width with 16.70 meters. Previously, he had had to tremble briefly in the long jump after a mistake.
With 2,765 points, he has 162 points behind the leading American Kyle Garland. “I’m healthy, I’m fine, horny ball competition. I feel like it,” said Neugebauer. With 2,736 points, the Swiss Simon Ehammer is third.
Ex-world champion Niklas Kaul, who has his strengths on the second day, is also promising. After a mixed 100-meter start, the 27-year-old had to line up and worked in 19th place in the following two disciplines with 2,414 points. “In the first three disciplines you don’t lose the decathlon. That is the question of how to continue,” said Kaul on ZDF. “This little bit is missing everywhere.”
Vice world champion and Tokyo Olympic champion Damian Warner from Canada did not go to the start. According to his own statements, he had to cancel the final training due to Achilles tendon problems. Olympic champion Markus Rooth had had to cancel from Norway in advance. The 23-year-old had injured himself in a training accident.