Reigning world decathlon champion Leo Neugebauer leads the decathlon standings after the first day at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday (12).
Neugebauer endured a painful end to his first day as the six-foot-seven German’s legs flooded with lactic in the latter stages of the 400m but he retained the overall lead with 4483 points ahead of Jeff Tesselaar from the Netherlands (4412 points) with Norway’s Sander Skotheim occupying third-place overnight with 4382 points in his first decathlon of the year.
Neugebauer began his campaign with a solid 10.90 in the 100m before stamping his authority on the competition over the course of the next two events in the morning session.
The wind conditions remained difficult for the horizontal jumps on the back straight but the German improved to 7.82m with his third jump for 1015 points to top the standings ahead of Skotheim. He set a season’s best of 7.80m as he continues his comeback from ankle surgery which has ruled him out for most of the season.
And Neugebauer further extended his overall lead with a seismic first round effort of 17.16m - the first decathlete to break the 17 metre-barrier in the shot put in the history of the European Athletics Championships - for 921 points. This brought his tally up to 2819 points and a lead of over 100 points over Tesselaar (2690 points) and Skotheim (2638 points).
Neugebauer is endeavouring to become the third German winner from the last four editions of the European Athletics Championships and while the world champion still leads proceedings and has some strong events to come on day two, his lead did diminish slightly over the course of the last two events.
Neugebauer, who has cleared 2.06m this year, was limited to a best of 1.99m for 794 points in the high jump. Skotheim moved up into second overall although the Norwegian was also somewhat down on his very best with a 2.05m clearance, a relatively modest height for an athlete who cleared 2.19m en route to gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
Tesselaar capped off an inspired first day with another lifetime best of 47.06 in the last heat of the 400m for 955 points to regain second-place ahead of Skotheim and behind Neugebauer who trudged home on lactic-filled legs in 48.81 before collapsing to the track.
Behind the leading triumvirate, 2024 European bronze medallist Makenson Gletty from France remains in contention for another medal in fourth overall (4323 points) while reigning European decathlon champion Johannes Erm from Estonia - who has been limited to just one competition this year due to injury - amassed a promising first day in fifth overall with 4282 points.
And also watch out for Germany’s 2022 European champion Niklas Kaul on day two. A renowned second day performer who excels in the javelin and 1500m, the German is looming in sixth overnight with 4214 points.