A few days later, Niklas Kaul will probably rate this competition more positively than between the final 1500 meter run and the award ceremony.

He made neither a very happy nor a very disappointed impression, his emotional state was somewhere in between, which is why he himself spoke of crossing the finish line "with a half smile".

Last but not least, his outstanding time over the middle distance was responsible for the happy half of the traditional all-around meeting in Götzis: In 4:16.31 minutes he mercilessly left the competition behind.

That put the decathlon world champion from USC Mainz up to fourth place, and the 8,303 points with which he finished the two days in Vorarlberg should earn him a nomination for the European Athletics Championships in Munich in August.

Kaul attaches far more importance to these title fights than to the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, a month earlier.

Running, jumping, pushing and throwing in front of 60,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium is much more appealing to him - especially since he has not yet won a medal at the European Championships.

Nominated at short notice four years ago and with a corresponding training deficit, he missed the bronze medal in Berlin by only 70 points.

Not an exciting result

At that time he scored 8220 points, since his World Cup triumph in Doha his best performance has been 8691 points - in this respect the current Götzis result is not exactly inspiring.

However, it came about under difficult conditions.

After 100 meters, which was lightning fast for his standards, a good long jump and a decent shot put, he had to abandon the high jump because of a painful spring foot.

For him, who has already jumped over 2.11 meters, there was only 1.91 meters to book.

"But I knew I couldn't have gone any higher with that foot."

Worse still: "It's on your mind all the time," he reported on the second day.

"You go to the hurdle start and wonder if it's going to be okay, you're in the discus ring wondering if it's going to work, and you're preparing for the pole vault and you don't know how many jumps you can do."

Technical quality in pole vaulting

In the javelin throw, his strongest discipline, in which Kaul is even further ahead of the competition than in the middle distance, the concerns about the stembone, at the end of which the injured foot is located, were no less.

To make matters worse, it rained continuously during the penultimate discipline.

"It was quite annoying and it inhibited me," he later said.

"And that kind of spoiled the fun for me.

At least I managed a conciliatory finish over 1500 meters.”

One of the positive things that the man from Mainz took away from the meeting was the technical quality of the pole vault.

"What happened on the staff was great," said mother and trainer Stefanie Kaul.

From 4.50 meters, the only jumped height that he did not climb on the first attempt, to 4.80 meters, the processes from the puncture to crossing the bar were close to perfection.

With the victory of Canadian Damian Warner (8797) for the sixth time in a row and Lindon Victor (Grenada, 8474) in second place, the Swiss Simon Ehammer, who set a long jump world record within the decathlon with 8.45 meters, took the third place.

Admittedly, Niklas Kaul was not far away from the shooting star's 8377 points.

It is no coincidence that Michael Kaul, the father, summed it up: "I am totally satisfied with Niki's condition."

Happier than the son was.

Because the coach also had an eye on how many points had fallen by the wayside just because of the foot – 100 each in the high jump and with the javelin alone, plus better results with discus and pole vault.

"He doesn't have to be ashamed of fourth place, and when the injury has healed, it could be a very nice summer."

The athlete, coach and medical department of the decathlon team assume that the injury is just a soft tissue bruise that will subside relatively quickly.

An MRI scan should provide clarity this Tuesday, announced Niklas Kaul.

"But if it was something serious that was permanently disabling me, I probably wouldn't have been able to get three javelin throws."