Defending champion Niklas Kaul had to accept a setback in his race to catch up in the world championship decathlon from Eugene.
In the discus throw, the 24-year-old couldn’t get past 44.27 m on Sunday afternoon and was almost three meters below his best performance of the season. When he triumphed in 2019, he had achieved his personal best of 49.20 m.
After seven disciplines, Kaul is in 14th place with 5846 points. In Doha three years ago, he had 66 points more at that point.
The best German is still Leo Neugebauer, the strong discus thrower impressed with 51.88 m and moved up to seventh place (6075). Kai Kazmirek, third at the 2017 World Cup, is 18th (5769). Tim Nowak is in 19th place (5557).
After top favorite and Olympic champion Damian Warner (Canada) had given up injured the day before, his compatriot Pierce Lepage (6427) now leads ahead of Ayden Owens-Delerme from Puerto Rico (6309) and Zach Ziemek from the USA (6221).
Olympic champion Kevin Mayer (France) is fourth (6216).