Decathlete Leo Neugebauer (Leinfelden-Echterdingen) also missed the hoped-for first medal for the German team at the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest.
The 23-year-old finished fifth in Pierce Lepage’s (Canada) triumph with 8645 points. Neugebauer was still in the lead after the first day. In the end, the college student was 111 points short of bronze.
Lepage crowned himself the new “King of Athletes” with a strong 8909 points ahead of his compatriot and Olympic champion Damian Warner (8804), and Lindon Victor (8756/Grenada) secured bronze.
Manuel Eitel (8191/Ulm) came in eleventh, European Champion Niklas Kaul (Mainz) had to stop the decathlon due to foot problems after the high jump.
Neugebauer had improved Jürgen Hingsen’s old German record to 8836 points in June and had traveled to Budapest as number one in the world, for a long time he was on course for a medal – but now the wait for the first major success in the German team continues. Julian Weber (javelin throw) still has a good chance at the end of the World Cup on Sunday.