Massimo Stano of Italy is the first world champion in the 35 km walk. For defending champion Niklas Kaul, Eugene’s World Cup decathlon is all about a top 8 placement. The tenth day of competition at a glance.
Go 35 km men: Olympic champion Stano triumphs
The Italian Massimo Stano won gold at the world championships premiere over 35 km walk. The Tokyo 20K Olympic champion beat Japan’s Masatora Kawano (2:23:15) on the final day of the title fights in 2:23:14. As in the 20 km competition, bronze went to Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden (2:23:44).
The two German walkers Karl Junghannß and Carl Dohmann had fallen far behind early on. Junghannß finished the competition in 34th place, 15:36 minutes behind, Dohmann was 40th. Christopher Linke, two-time Olympic fifth place finisher over 20 km, was absent due to a corona infection.
Decathlon: Defending champion Kaul is struggling
For defending champion Niklas Kaul, the world championship decathlon is no longer about precious metal. The man from Mainz also remained below his potential in the pole vault with 4.80 m and 20 centimeters below his record from the triumph in Doha 2019. Before the final two disciplines javelin throw and 1,500 m, Kaul is 13th with 6,695 points, he had in Doha at this time 6,822 counters on the account. His final score of 8,691 points at that time could not even be enough for a medal in Eugene.
Canadian Pierce Lepage (7,337) is in the lead ahead of Zach Ziemek (USA/7,256) and French world record holder Kevin Mayer (7,251). Since Mayer is a much stronger javelin thrower, he should be the gold favorite. The best German is still Leo Neugebauer in eighth place (6,924). Kai Kazmirek, third at the 2017 World Championships, is 14th (6,679). Tim Nowak did a “Salto nullo” with the baton.