Two severe setbacks at the beginning, but in the pole vault decathlete Leo Neugebauer found his way back into the medal fight at the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest. Canadian Pierce Lepage is on course for gold, followed by Neugebauer. Manuel Eitel apparently suffered an injury.
The start of the second day went completely wrong for Leo Neugebauer. As the leader, the 23-year-old climbed into the starting block for the 110 m hurdles, produced a false start and only managed 14.75 seconds on the second attempt. He also fell well short of his potential with the discus (47.63).
Decathlon, intermediate result right arrow
The lightness that had worn the German record holder on the first day was gone. “Leo the German”, who lives and trains in the USA, got his smile back with the staff. He mastered 5.10 m in the sweltering heat of Budapest, celebrated with his fan club in the stands and can hope for a happy ending before the remaining two disciplines (javelin throw from 7:05 p.m. and 1,500 m at 9:25 p.m.).
Lepage leads, Neugebauer second, Warner just behind
With 7,282 points after eight disciplines, Neugebauer is back in second place in the fight for the podium. Gold is probably out of reach. Vice World Champion Pierce Lepage (7,477) is in the lead, the Canadian is aiming for over 8,800 points. Lepage’s compatriot and Olympic champion Damian Warner (7,260) is third, ahead of the strong Lindon Victor (7,214) from Grenada, who put down an outstanding discus throw with 54.97 m. World Championship debutant Manuel Eitel (6,731) is in tenth place, but apparently sustained an injury in the pole vault.
Kaul and Mayer got out
Former World Champion and European Champion Niklas Kaul dropped out of the competition early on Friday (08/25/2023) due to foot problems. The risk was “unacceptable” in the year before the Olympic Games in Paris, said the 25-year-old. Before Kaul, defending champion and world record holder Kevin Mayer from France had also ended the world championship decathlon due to problems with his Achilles tendon.
