“King Leo I spared me”
Brilliant all-around star narrowly misses German record
February 4, 2024, 11:39 a.m
Leo Neugebauer attacks the German record, but narrowly misses it. After five disciplines he collected exactly as many points as record holder Busemann, but then he showed unusual weaknesses. The old master is excited about the 23-year-old whiz kid.
All-around athlete Leo Neugebauer has confirmed his medal ambitions for the Summer Olympics in Paris, but narrowly missed the next German record. The 23-year-old was well on his way to breaking Frank Busemann’s German heptathlon record from 2002 (6291 points) at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque under the hall roof – but he showed weaknesses in the last two disciplines and ultimately achieved 6219 Points.
“All in all, it was a decent, solid heptathlon. Pole vault was very disappointing because I was looking forward to it the most. But overall I had fun,” Neugebauer wrote on Instagram. Neugebauer got off to a brilliant start on Friday, setting a personal best in the 60 meters in 6.96 seconds. Neugebauer was also in good shape in the long jump (7.75 meters), shot put (16.77 meters), high jump (2.05 meters) and on Saturday in the 60 meter hurdles (8.25 seconds).
As usual, the fifth-placed World Cup winner from Budapest started the pole vault late, but at 4.80 meters he fell a full 41 centimeters below his best. He needed 2:46.10 minutes over the final 1000 meters – about two and a half seconds more than his house record. The brand of Atlanta Olympic runner-up Busemann still exists after 22 years.
Busemann follows the heptathlon with fascination
The now 48-year-old did not expect this at all; he had announced his changing of the guard on Instagram. He followed Neugebauer’s competition closely – and kept his fans up to date with Instagram stories. After five disciplines, Busemann even pointed out a very special parallel. Because Neugebauer, with 4,563 points, had collected exactly the same number as he had more than two decades ago, he wrote: “Now it’s getting kind of funny…”
After Neugebauer’s competition he wrote: “Okay, lucky me, King Leo I spared me again and left me the record until his next heptathlon.” According to Busemann, he himself enjoyed reminiscing about his competition in Tallinn, Estonia.
Neugebauer dreams of a magical 9,000 points
Just last June, Neugebauer, who studied at the University of Texas and competes in Germany for VfB Stuttgart, improved Jürgen Hingsen’s 39-year-old German decathlon record and became the beacon of hope for struggling German athletics.
“A medal is due” in 2024, Neugebauer recently said on Leichtathletik.de: “That’s what I’m trying to work towards.” He also thinks the magical mark of 9,000 points is possible. The world record set by Frenchman Kevin Mayer in 2018 is 9,126 points.
“It’s above all a question of consistency,” said Neugebauer, who improved his best performance to 8,836 points last year, and he also had to “get a little more out of each discipline. Then the 9,000 points are feasible.” So far only four decathletes have broken this mark.