Kaul, a decathlete, lost the opportunity to win a medal due to three severe errors.
Two years after triumphing at the Munich European Championships, decathlete Niklas Kaul missed out on a podium finish in Rome. The title holders struggles on the second day proved too much, though Paris still holds promise for him.
Niklas Kaul, the decathlon champion from Mainz, lost his European Championship title. He fought through a rollercoaster competition, finishing in fourth place with 8547 points, 59 points off a medal. Estonian Johannes Erm claimed the throne with 8764 points, followed by Sander Skotheim from Norway with 8635, and Makenson Gletty from France with 8606 points.
Kaul spoke to ARD about his poor performance, stating, "The days were really long, it was a physically demanding decathlon, but I'm now completely satisfied that I made it through. And maybe it was the best mediocre decathlon I've ever done." Looking ahead to the Olympics, he expressed confidence, admitting to a few mistakes but also highlighting stable performances in other disciplines. He believes a decent total can still be achieved in Paris.
Neugebauer's absence a surprise
Kaul's failure to podium largely resulted from mistakes in high jump (1.96m), 400m (48.81s), and 110m hurdles (14.91s). However, his 8547 points mark still counts as his third-best decathlon performance. His best scores were achieved at the gold-winning event in Doha 2019 (8691) and U23 European Championship in Gothenburg 2019 (8572). Two years ago, Kaul scored only two less points at the Munich European Championships.
Manuel Eitel (8212) finished in seventh place, Tim Nowak (8150) took ninth, and Felix Wolter (8051) placed 13th. Notably absent was Leo Neugebauer, the Stuttgart athlete, who recently improved the German record to 8961 points at the college championships in the U.S. Neugebauer, currently the world's top decathlete and hot favourite for the Paris Olympics, was unavailable.
Warholm continues domination
In the 400m hurdles final, Emil Agyekum placed sixth in Karsten Warholm's gold hat-trick. The Norwegian soldier celebrated the highlight of his career with a time of 48.42s. Warholm, the Olympic champion, world record holder, and three-time world champion from Norway, claimed his third European title in 46.98s. En route to the Paris Olympics, Warholm easily claimed his third successive European gold.
Silver went to the locals' delight, Alessandro Sibilio, setting a new Italian national record in 47.50s, with Swede Carl Bengtström taking bronze in 47.94s. World Championships' eighth-placed Joshua Abuaku shocked everyone with his semi-final elimination. There hasn't been a German sprinter in the 400m hurdles medal since Harald Schmid won his third consecutive European title in Stuttgart 38 years ago.
[Ensure appropriate image/link highlighting]
Read also:
Despite his best efforts, Niklas Kaul couldn't defend his European Championships title in Athletics, finishing fourth with 8547 points. His struggles were evident in the high jump, 400m, and 110m hurdles events, but he still managed to surpass his performance at the 2018 European Championships in Rome. Meanwhile, Leipzig's Leo Neugebauer, who recently set a new German record in the decathlon, was unfortunately absent for the championships, missing out on the chance to compete in Athletics - ORDNER.
