Leo Neugebauer got off to a bad start on the second day of the decathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest and lost the lead to Canadian Pierce Lepage. European champion Niklas Kaul had given up on the first day because of a foot injury.
That backfired for Leo Neugebauer early in the morning in Budapest. First a false start, then a completely botched run over 110 m hurdles: “Leo the German” only ran 14.75 seconds on Saturday (08/26/2023) and lost valuable points in the fight for gold. Neugebauer, who cleared the first three hurdles, was well behind his personal best.
False start at the beginning
In the first attempt, the 23-year-old had produced a false start. Unlike the specialists, this does not mean the end for the all-around athletes. Neugebauer got the yellow card, i.e. a warning for “interfering with the start process”, apparently started to ponder and botched the hurdles.
Legape takes the lead
Pierce Lepage, Vice World Champion in Eugene, delivered a strong 13.77 seconds (personal best) and took the lead with 5,614 points after six disciplines. Olympic champion Damian Warner (13.67, 5,596) also overtook Neugebauer, who is now only third with 5,520 points.
Ulm World Championship debutant Manuel Eitel completed a good hurdle run in 14.39 seconds and is in eleventh place with 5,221 points.
Before European champion Niklas Kaul, defending champion and world record holder Kevin Mayer had also dropped out. The Frenchman retired from the long jump with an Achilles tendon problem.