Worry about the decathlon world champion
Kaul struggles through pain to the EM norm
May 29, 2022, 8:41 p.m
The foot hurts, but Niklas Kaul pulls through the decathlon in Götzis. The world champion subordinates everything to the goal of “European standard”, he would even give up his title defense for it. A Swiss jumps all-around world record, in the heptathlon there is a Dutch record.
European Championship norm ticked off, survived a decathlon for the first time in twelve months – but again the body didn’t play along properly: World champion Niklas Kaul reported back at the all-around meeting in Götzis/Austria with a strong fourth place, but had to fight hard because of a foot injury grit your teeth. Sick, the 24-year-old from Mainz fought his way up from eleventh place on his traditionally strong second day and, with 8303 points, surpassed the benchmark for the European Championships in Munich (15th to 21st August) by 203 points.
As in the previous year, Kaul injured himself in the high jump at the Olympics in Tokyo. At that time he had to give up in the following 400 meter race, this time he held out. As defending champion, Kaul has a wild card for the World Championships in Eugene/Oregon (July 15-24). In Götzis, however, he made it clear that the European Championship appealed to him more. “I don’t care about Eugene if I can stand for it in the Olympic Stadium in Munich,” said Kaul at Leichtathletik.de: “Therefore, the thought of quitting after the high jump was pushed away relatively quickly.”
In Götzis, Canada’s Olympic champion Damian Warner superiorly prevailed with a brilliant 8797 points ahead of Lindon Victor (Grenada/8447) and the Swiss Simon Ehammer (8377). Kaul (best mark 8691 points) caught Kai Kazmirek with the clear victory in the final 1500 meter race, who also reached the Munich norm in fifth place with 8272 points.
Grimm exceeds EM standard
European champion Arthur Abele, who celebrated his comeback after almost four years without a decathlon due to injury, failed to make a valid attempt in the pole vault on the second day and did not compete in the final 1500 meter race. As the defending champion, he has the right to start at the European Championships in Munich.
The Swiss Ehammer also caused a sensation on the first day with 8.45 meters in the long jump and improved the “world record” within a decathlon by 15 centimeters. This makes Ehammer the best of the year in the world among the “specialists”. At the last four Olympic Games, the 22-year-old would have won long jump gold with this distance.
In the women’s heptathlon, Vanessa Grimm came in third with a personal best of 6323 points, but missed the World Cup norm (6420). However, it exceeded the benchmark for the European Championship. Sophie Weißenberg, who had already done that in Ratingen at the beginning of May, had to be content with 6161 points and ninth place in cooler temperatures. Victory went to Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands with 6693 points, both a world record and a national record.