Leo Neugebauer pushed his body to the limit in Tokyo’s pouring rain, collapsing on the track after crossing the finish line in the decathlon’s grueling final event, the 1,500 meters. The 25-year-old German athlete had just clinched gold at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, but for a moment, he couldn’t move. Officials wheeled out a chair for him, yet Neugebauer hauled himself up and walked off under his own power. “I’ve never felt this wrecked after a race,” he later shared, “but no way was I leaving in a wheelchair.”
His strong finish—clocking 4:31.89—boosted his total score to 8,804 points, just ahead of Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme at 8,784 and the U.S.’s Kyle Garland with 8,703. Fellow German Niklas Kaul, a former world champion, finished fourth.
Exhausted but beaming, Neugebauer climbed into the stands at Japan’s National Stadium to hug his mom, Diana, and his dad, Terrance, whose roots trace back to Cameroon. Friends and family cheered him on, celebrating the big win.
Growing up in a family that loved sports, Neugebauer was born in Gorlitz but moved near Stuttgart as a baby. His dad, a huge soccer fan, nudged him toward track and field. “I’ve always been athletic—I could jump and throw like a champ,” Neugebauer said. At 15, he ditched soccer to go all-in on athletics, a choice that changed everything.
That focus landed him a scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies economics and trains hard. Standing 2.01 meters tall and nicknamed “Leo the German,” he’s known for mixing raw talent with nonstop grit. His coach, Jim Garnham, raves about him: “Leo doesn’t pull tricks out of thin air, but when it all clicks, he does stuff no one else can.”
Before heading to Tokyo, Neugebauer and Garnham zeroed in on fixing weak spots, like his javelin technique. It paid off with a personal best of 64.89 meters. He laughs about stereotypes: “People say I’m a typical German—super methodical and disciplined.”
Moving to the U.S. suits him perfectly. “I love the warm weather; everyone’s always smiling,” he said. Plus, athletics gets way more buzz there than back home.
This time, unlike some past meets, Neugebauer powered through the decathlon’s second day. “The crowd’s energy lifted me—I felt like I was floating on a cloud,” he recalled.
Now a world decathlon champion, the Olympic silver medalist from 2024 isn’t slowing down. “I’ve got more in the tank,” he declared, already eyeing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as his next big stage—practically a home game for the Texas-based star.
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