Germany wins decathlon battle

DOHA - Germany’s Niklas Kaul survived a gruelling battle to win the world championship decathlon gold on Thursday after the event was blown wide open by the withdrawal of injured defending champion Kevin Mayer.

Even with French world record holder Mayer out of the way with a hamstring problem, it was far from smooth sailing for Kaul on a rollercoaster day that saw a different name at the top the leaderboard after each of the five events.

But it was the 21-year-old Kaul who stood on top of the podium at the end after winning the final event, the 1,500 metres, to record a score of 8,691 points and become the youngest ever world decathlon champion.

“I cannot really describe the feeling,” said Kaul. “I have no idea how it happened. I am not the best decathlete who competed here.

“I don’t think I’m the favourite for (next year’s) Tokyo (Olympics) because Kevin (Mayer) did 9,100 points ... and is still the best decathlete there is in the world.”

Estonia’s Maicel Uibo took silver with 8,604, just as his wife Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas did an hour earlier in the 400 metres.

Gold continued to elude Canada’s Damian Warner, who had to settle for third on 8,529. It was a disappointing end for Warner considering his trophy cabinet is already full of bronze and silver medals, including third place at the Rio Olympics and second and third finishes at the worlds.

Astonishing throw

Kaul had not figured in the medal discussion through the opening eight events then shot into contention with an astonishing throw of 79.05 metres in the javelin that brought a gasp from the largest crowd yet at the Khalifa Stadium.

The effort, almost seven metres more than the next best, vaulted him up to third.

With only 19 points separating the top three, it was all to play for going into the final event - the 1500m.

“It was quite a big throw,” Kaul said with a smile. “I felt it in the run-up.”