Götzis (dpa) – World Champion Niklas Kaul can look forward to the home European Championships in Munich in August after a nerve-wracking decathlon.
The 24-year-old clearly fulfilled the EM standard of 8100 points at the meeting in Götzis on Sunday with 8303 points. “I don’t care about the World Championships in Eugene if I can stand for it in the Olympic Stadium in Munich,” said Kaul.
At the first all-around qualification in Ratingen at the beginning of May, the man from Mainz had to drop out due to a pinched nerve in his cervical vertebrae. The competition at the weekend in Austria was also painful, for example when he had to end the high jump prematurely and after only 1.91 meters. “It’s always on your mind,” said Kaul about his foot problems. “It ruins the fun.”
After eleventh place and 4069 points on the first day, Kaul, who has a wildcard for the World Cup from July 15th to 24th in the USA as defending champion, worked his way up to fourth place on his traditionally stronger second day. Victory went to Canadian Olympic champion Damian Warner with 8797 points. Kai Kazmirek (LG Rhein-Wied) had to give way to Kaul in fifth place with 8272 points.
European Champion Arthur Abele ended his first competition after four years and a long injury break without placing after he failed to score in the pole vault. The 35-year-old Abele (Ulm) starts with a wildcard at the European Championships from August 15th to 21st in Munich.
Vanessa Grimm (Königstein) set a best performance in the heptathlon as third and only four weeks after a positive corona test with 6323 points. It thus fulfilled the EM standard. Leverkusen’s Sophie Weißenberg, who had already done so in Ratingen at the beginning of May, had to settle for ninth place with 6161 points in cooler temperatures. Victory went to Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands with 6693 points.