Ex-world champion Niklas Kaul secured a podium at the anniversary meeting of the decathlon in Götzis.
With 8,575 points and tied with the Swiss Simon Ehammer, Kaul finished a strong athletics competition as third, in which he had been on the best for a long time. The German record holder Leo Neugebauer finished fifth at his Götzis premiere with 8,555 points. Both cracked the World Cup standard.
The victory went to the Norwegian Sander Skotheim with 8,909 points. He pushed into the circle of the best decathlon in history a day after his 23rd birthday. In 2015, Kai Kazmirek won the last German decathlon in Götzis.
Neugebauer: Atmosphere is mega
“People have not exaggerated, the atmosphere is mega that motivates very much”, reported Neugebauer. At the 50th edition of the traditional meeting, a decathlon field was at the start that has never existed in this class in Götzis.
Kaul was long on the course of his best decathlon result in the Möslestadion. The 27-year-old achieved this in 2019 at his World Cup title in Doha with 8,691 points. The Mainz was happy about the “Best first day of my career”. Kaul sailed over 100 meters a new best, he came close to three times.
“Today I finally felt like a decathlete again, that was rarely the case last year”said the European champion from 2022 and had “fun” for a long time. On the second day he struggled repeatedly, but in the end he was happy to be happy.
Tim Nowak (Ulm) and Amadeus Gräber (Frankfurt) had to leave early on the first day due to injuries. The Ulmer Manuel Eitel took 14th place with 8,086 points. This year, the World Championships from September 13th to 21st in Tokyo.
Only Jackie Joyner-Kersee better
For women, the American Anna Hall broke the 7,000-point mark with 7,032 points as a fifth heptathlon. Only world record player Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA/7,291) was better. In the leaderboard, Hall pulled (Sweden) with European recordler Carolina Klipt.