Niklas Kaul took the IAAF World Athletics Championships by storm in a grueling battle to claim decathlon gold. The 21-year-old is the youngest-ever decathlon winner at the Worlds.
Image: Reuters/D. Martinez
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It was with an air of disbelief that an exhausted Niklas Kaul reveled in his sensational performance in Doha. Just a few seconds earlier, the German decathlete had outclassed the competition at the end of a topsy-turvy day to run himself right to the top of the podium becoming the youngest-ever decathlon winner at the IAAF World Athletics Championships.
"I haven't quite grasped what's happened yet," the 21-year-old told German public broadcaster ARD after the conclusion of the final discipline, the 1,500 meters. "It'll probably take as long to sink in as it will for my voice to come back because I lost it out on the track."
As for the post-event celebrations, Kaul was coy: "I reckon it'll be about half past three by the time I get out of here so I don't think there will be much partying."
Niklas Kaul produced the longest-ever javelin throw in the decathlon at the World Athletics Championships.Image: Reuters/D. Martinez
A jaw-dropping javelin throw
In Doha, the decathlon event was blown wide open when French world-record holder Kevin Mayer was forced to withdraw due to a hamstring injury sustained in the pole vault event. Kaul vaulted into contention when he produced the longest-ever throw in the decathlon with an astonishing effort of 79.05 meters – a new personal best and seven meters longer than his closest competitor.
"You've got to have a whip in your arm," enthused ARD pundit Frank Busemann, a silver medalist in the discipline at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, who had already sung Kaul's praises before the World Championships begun: "It's as if he's been at the highest level for 10 years."
The U23 European Champion demonstrated unerring composure as he became the second German decathlete to take gold after Torsten Voss in 1987 with a sensational score of 8,691 points – another personal best. Silver went to Estonia's Maicel Uibo (8,604 points) with Canadian Damian Warner (8,529) taking bronze.
Successful athletes who are also mothers
Shelley Ann Fraser-Pryce, Serena Williams and Marit Björgen are just three athletes who have put their sporting careers on hold in order to have a child. They have all succesfully returned to their sports.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce
After Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the 100-meter sprint at the Athletics World Championships in Doha, she celebrated her victory with son Zyon. "It was a long journey," the Jamaican sprinter said of the time it took for her to get back into shape – not only physically but also mentally.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix won a record 12th world title and her first since becoming a mother last November, as part of the US team that took the 4x400 meters mixed relay in Doha. After she became pregnant, the six-time Olympic champion got into a dispute with her then-sponsor Nike, which had offered her a 70-percent pay cut as she was forced to take a break from the sport. Felix now has a different sponsor.
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Serena Williams
According to her own account, the birth by C-section of daughter Alexis Olympia on September 1, 2017, almost cost the then 36-year-old her life. Since returning to the tennis court following a 13-month break, Williams has reached four Grand Slam finals but hasn’t won any of them.
Image: Reuters/H. McKay
Margaret Court
Margaret Court had a much easier time of it. The 24-time Grand Slam winner, whose record Serena Williams continues to chase, had three children during her playing career, only retiring from the game after she'd become pregnant four a fourth time.
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Marit Björgen
In June 2015 Marit Björgen announced that she was pregnant and would sit out the following World Cup season – with the goal of returning for the 2017 Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti. After the birth of her son Marius, the Norwegian record world champion went on to win four titles at the 2017 Worlds and a year later she followed this up with two Olympic gold medals in Pyeongchang.
Image: picture-alliance/NTB Scanpix/T. Bendiksby
Therese Alshammar
When the Swedish swimmer put her career on hold due to pregnancy in 2013 she had already won numerous World and European Championship titles, plus three Olympic medals – none of which was gold. Alshammar hasn’t been at the top level since returning to the pool, but she did take part in her sixth Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, when she was Sweden's flag-bearer.
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Darya Domracheva
Only four months after the birth of her daughter, the star biathlete won the silver medal at the World Championships. The Belarusian followed this success up with several World Cup victories, Olympic silver in the pursuit in 2018 and relay gold. In 2018, Domracheva called time on her career. She now coaches China’s national biathlon team long with her husband Ole Einar Björndalen (pictured).
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Kristin Armstrong
US cyclist Kristin Armstrong’s son Lucas looks about as happy as his mother after she won Olympic gold in the time trial at the 2012 Games in London. In doing so, she defended the title she had won in Beijing four years earlier. In Rio in 2016, she made it three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the race against the clock.
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Isabell Werth
Isabell Werth gave birth to son Frederick 10 years ago and now he can say that his mother is the most successful dressage rider in the world, having won six Olympic gold medals, four Olympic silver medals, nine World Championship titles and 20 European championship titles. That’s not to mention several national titles.
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Heike Drechsler
By the time her son Toni was born in 1989, Heike Drechsler had already won gold medals for East Germany in the long jump at both the World and European Championships. She’d also won gold in the 200 meters at the European Championships. After giving birth, she won Olympic gold for Germany in the long jump in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney eight years later.
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Kim Clijsters
Soon successful tennis mother Kim Clijsters will be back on the WTA tour. The Belgian knows a thing or two about comebacks: In 2007 she retired at the age of 23. In 2009 she gave birth to a daughter before resuming her career and winning three Grand Slam tournaments. She retired for a second time in 2012. Now a mother of three, she has announced another comeback for 2020.
