Decathlete Leo Neugebauer makes leap from college to elites: ‘The sky’s the limit’
The German record holder has the World Lead in the event this season, and says he’s not changing his approach as he levels up. He’s eyeing the Paris 2024 podium, too.
Athletics
Growing up outside of Stuttgart, German decathlete Leo Neugebauer picked up athletics at age six as an escape from school and stress: Once he was done with his afternoon homework, he raced off to the track with friends.
“Practice was always the fun time for me,” the 23-year-old told Olympics.com recently, smiling at the memory. “I was always happy to go to practice.”
Nearly two decades later, Neugebauer is competing at his second World Athletics Championships as one of the favourites for the men’s decathlon world title, posting a World Lead score of 8,836 points on his way to the NCAA collegiate title in June.
A year after he finished 10th in his debut at worlds, he’s looking back at that experience as a game-changer: “It felt like it was a new me,” he said of Eugene 2022. “I'm actually part of the elite now, one of the top contenders.”
And, he said, he feels as though it’s only the beginning: “The sky's the limit,” he said, breaking into another smile.
Leo Neugebauer: A natural decathlete
The German athletics program for kids is set up perfectly for decathlon, Neugebauer said: Youngsters start off with three events, then five and seven, finding out where they excel exactly before picking their individual events.
Leo was good – at all of them.
“I was just always pretty good at everything a little bit, and it wasn't really worth it for me to focus on one single event,” he explained. “So I kept doing everything and then [transitioned to] full decathlon; I was getting better and better. Yeah, that's my story.”
He headed to the States to compete for the University of Texas, and his win – an upset over favourite Kyle Garland (USA) of Georgia – this year not only gave him the highest score of the season but also broke a 39-year-old German record... the day after its anniversary.
That record holder – Jürgen Hingsen – reached out to congratulate Neugebauer: “He was very happy for me,” Neugebauer said. “I read an interview where he was talking about how he thinks its great for Germany that young people are coming to get these records; it’s good for track and field.”
Neugebauer’s score was also a collegiate record and vaulted him to eighth place on the all-time list, but it proved something that little Leo had once doubted: That he could become one of the greats in the world in the decathlon.
“He would not believe what [has] happened with me,” he said of his younger self. “Back in those days I was like, ‘Why are we even doing track? We're never going to be at a world championships.”
Neugebauer: ‘If something works, keep doing it’
There has been no great shift in his training or mentality as Neugebauer has gone from one level to the next. He relies on hard work, and said having a rival like Garland helped keep him focused throughout his collegiate career.
“I feel like when you try something different, that's when you like to start messing up,” he said. “If something works, I would say, just keep doing it.”
“We always push each other, not just [at nationals], every single NCAA meet or outside of it, too,” Neugebauer said. “We always try to be better than each other. Me, Kyle and Ayden [Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico], we've been pushing each other for the longest time.”
College athletics has helped prepare Neugebauer for the big show, he said, so much so that he will stick to his above mantra: ‘If something works, keep doing it.’
“I'm pretty good at handling pressure because I'm a very relaxed person in general,” said Neugebauer. “I'm just having fun out here when I'm competing. I'm not trying to change anything for Budapest because there's no reason to. If I can score [a 8,836] just being relaxed, being myself, I'm going to do the same thing and score that high [at Worlds] too.”
Professionalising for Paris 2024
Earlier this season at a collegiate event, Neugebauer hit the standard minimum score for next year’s Olympic Summer Games Paris 2024, a moment that made the Olympics – something he had dreamed about for a long time, a reality if he is chosen by the German NOC.
And a motivator.
“[That] really opened my eyes up,” he said. “That was literally the moment where I was like, ‘I'm not just like a normal decathlete anymore. I'm really like part of the top of the elite.’ I have to behave like a pro now, train like a pro, be focused like a pro.”
It was a mindset shift, he said, explaining he was happy with his training routines from prior.
“The Olympics is always the end goal for every athlete,” he said. “You want to say, ‘I am an Olympian.’ That's why just being there is going to mean everything to me, just having fun and then hopefully also doing really good... that’s my biggest goal.”
And that aforementioned “sky,” does it involve the Olympic podium?
“Definitely,” he said. “I don't see any limits for me, especially if you see what happened with me from a few months ago [when he made the Olympic standard] to now. I’m just taking practice really seriously and being really focused.”
“I can't even imagine what I can do from this year to next year. That's even more time I have to build myself and become more consistent.”
And to think: It all started as an after-school activity.