Will the Olympic boom follow the EM party?

Gold child Kaul is already looking towards Paris

Created: 08/18/2022, 10:00 am

By: Nico-Marius Schmitz

An evening for the history books: Niklas Kaul - who wrote decathlon history with his catch-up race.

© dpa

At 24, Niklas Kaul is still quite young.

"He's going to be a really big one": Hymns of praise for a German decathlete who wants even more.

Munich – Actually, Niklas Kaul had already copied the title.

After the high jump, Kaul went to the hotel on Tuesday morning with the thought "That was it": "After the afternoon nap I said to myself: If the gold chance is gone, I'll at least do a show for all spectators in the last two disciplines." The 24-year-old delivered the show.

With the javelin throw over 76.05 meters and a 1500 meter dash in a personal best of 4:10.04 minutes, Kaul was crowned the new European champion.

"An emotional rollercoaster ride, I've never experienced anything like it.

That's the decathlon, sometimes it's all over, sometimes you're at the top.” Kaul is back on top after his world title from Doha 2019.

There was motivation before the 1500 meters from Arthur Abele, European champion from 2018: "I made him an announcement again: Get the fucking medal." The run to gold, which delighted the athletics fans, was no surprise for Abele.

In training, his jaw dropped regularly when he saw Kaul on the track.

"He's a brutal runner.

If he has to march, the boy marches.”

And what was the recipe for success for the 1500 meters.

There was one, says Kaul, but it didn't work.

"At some point, all I could think of was: Now run, then you'll get there." Buoyed by 40,000 spectators, Kaul thought, "They're just tearing the stands off me".

For the Mainzer, the European championship title was confirmation of his path.

Align everything with the home EM in Munich.

After Doha 2019, Kaul always traveled to the competitions as “the youngest decathlon world champion ever”, and he had to deal with the pressure first.

Then the injury at the Olympics in Tokyo, the pictures of him being wheeled out of the stadium.

Even then, the thought of Munich got him out of the hole.

"The biggest race to catch up in the history of the international decathlon" Kaul succeeded in Munich, as ARD expert Frank Busemann wrote in his column.

Jumping ace Simon Ehammer was ahead up to the last discipline, then Kaul caught him with 8545 points, the Swiss won silver (8468).

"I really enjoyed teasing him until the end.

To deliver like that in the home nation is really big.

I begrudge him it from the bottom of my heart,” said the 22-year-old.

And announced with a big grin: "I'm training to be at the front at some point.

I will do everything to improve my throws, then he has to run under four minutes."

King Kaul is back on the throne of track and field athletes - what's next?

Yesterday he had a beer with his father, who is also his trainer, and a kiss from his girlfriend Mareike Rösing.

Kaul is already looking ahead, announcing that he wants to be even stronger at the Paris Olympics than in Doha and Munich.

The best performance from 2019 should fall.

"He's still very, very young and has so much potential," says Abele: "He just has to bring in a bit of stability and then it will be really, really, really big."

Kaul appeared at the press conference yesterday in a good mood.

"I fell asleep at five.

I think you can hear and see that,” said the European champion about the winner's party.

So there was the stamina that had brought him gold.