Ehammer jumped 8.30 meters on Saturday, beating Damian Warner’s previous record (8.28), which the Canadian set in May 2021.
“I’m incredibly happy that it worked out with the eight meters. It is not a matter of course to jump eight meters in the first competition of the season”said Ehammer, who still sees room for improvement. “The jump was good. But I gave away the board, and the landing wasn’t ideal either.”
Kaul has to break off prematurely
World champion Niklas Kaul (Mainz) broke off prematurely and has to worry about qualifying for the home European Championships in Munich (15th to 21st August). The 24-year-old fell well short of his potential in the first four disciplines. He still competed for the 400 meters, but stopped running after a few steps – as did the former World Cup third-placed player Kai Kazmirek (LG Rhein-Wied).
“He felt dizzy. Continuing the competition would have been irresponsible.”, said decathlon team leader Frank Müller about Kaul. A standard of 8,100 points is required for the European Championships. In theory, Kaul would still have the chance to recommend himself for Munich at the end of May in Götzis.
As the defending champion, he has a wild card for the World Championships in Eugene (July 15-24). Since his gold triumph in Doha in 2019, Kaul has only completed one decathlon, in 2021 in Götzis he managed 8,263 points.
Ehammer and Weißenberg in the lead after the first day
At half-time, Ehammer is in the lead with a strong 4,583 points. In the women’s heptathlon, Carolin Schäfer (Frankfurt/Main) is in second place with 3,643 points, while Sophie Weißenberg (3,696/Leverkusen) is the leader in the last three disciplines on Sunday, ahead of the 2017 Vice World Champion.