Decathlon World Champion Niklas Kaul: "Fairytale catching up"

Niklas Kaul has provided the biggest sensation of the World Athletics Championships in Doha with his gold medal in the decathlon. At the age of just 21, the German is the youngest world champion of the athletics king discipline.

Here are the international press reviews for the race.

USA

"The New York Times": "The German Niklas Kaul survived a tough fight on Thursday for winning the decathlon gold of the World Cup, after the competition was completely open due to the loss of the injured defending champion Kevin Mayer."

ITALY

"Gazzetta dello Sport": "A titanic, infinite challenge, which was virtually overcome on the last meter of the last year 1500. [...] The world record holder, the Frenchman Kevin Mayer, has retired."

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FRANCE

L'Equipe:

The German Niklas Kaul won on Thursday after a superb run over 1500 meters, although he finished at the end of the first day still in eleventh place. Despite his powerful stature (1.90 m, 90 kg), the German has dominated the 1500 m, and his competitors are suspended to seven seconds. Overall Niklas Kaul won a personal best time of 119 points with 8,691 points.

SWITZERLAND

Blick: Germany celebrates its new sports hero Germany has a new sports hero! Niklas Kaul is on Thursday evening, completely surprising world champion in decathlon. At 21, the Mainzer is the youngest decathlete world champion ever. On the way to the title Kaul puts on a fairytale catch-up hunt: in place 20 he starts in the competition, after the first day he is 11th. With three personal best he brings before the final 1500 m run in the perfect starting position for World Cup gold.

However, he also benefits from the task of defending champion and world record holder Kevin Mayer from France, who has to end the competition with a calf injury.