Andreas Bechmann has not lost sight of his goal for the season.

50 years after the 1972 games in Munich, taking part in the European Championships in the Olympic Stadium in the Bavarian capital, the 22-year-old decathlete doesn't want to do without this encounter with history.

But the athletes from Eintracht Frankfurt still lack the necessary qualification for the big event in August.

The U23 European champion had canceled his last attempt to break the norm of 8100 points, his planned start at the meeting in Arona, Spain, at Pentecost.

A blood analysis a few days earlier had revealed that he had been infected with the corona virus for the second time six to eight weeks ago.

No common symptoms

Instead of starting his career in Tenerife, Bechmann had a thorough check-up in Germany.

"I didn't want to risk heart muscle inflammation," explains the athlete.

And otherwise make sure that his body has not suffered any long-term consequences.

At the time of his illness, he felt none of the usual symptoms and was therefore "completely trained".

Without knowing what was slumbering inside him.

Still, he hadn't been carefree.

Muscular problems prevented the planned start of the season in early May.

"Maybe," says Bechmann, "it had something to do with Covid."

Rumors were circulating behind the scenes that the start-up entrepreneur could shelve top-class sport.

"I train more than ever," Bechmann rejects such assumptions.

In the mornings he throws and jumps in the performance center on Hahnstraße, before and after that the founder manages the business of a software company that can predict damage to buildings.

Thanks to his good team, both are compatible.

The work and the responsibility for his employees even help him in sport.

"It taught me to assess things correctly." One is "the reality", the other, although he is passionate about it, "something staged".

Regularly in the ice bath

He finds the necessary regeneration in his sleep.

Eight hours every night, this period of time is sacred to Bechmann, "there are no exceptions".

He also regularly sits in the ice bath and uses the 15 minutes to answer emails and make phone calls.

It distracts you from the cold.

Bechmann is convinced that he can still do a really strong decathlon this year.

Whether he gets the chance to do so at the European Championships now depends on national coach Christopher Hallmann.

For the Thorpe Cup, the traditional meeting of the German and American all-around fighters on 9./10.

July in Dallas, guests have seven seats available.

Five are awarded based on performance, the other two via a wildcard.

Bechmann, who won the most recent edition of this intercontinental duel in Bernhausen in 2019, has officially applied for one of them.

Participation would be the last chance for him to recommend himself for the European Championship.

According to the current status, in addition to the seeded defending champion Arthur Abele, world champion Niklas Kaul with a previous performance of 8303 points, Kai Kazmirek (8272) and Tim Nowak (8160) in Munich would be entitled to start at the European Championship.

Bechmann would have to overtake Nowak with his performance to get the ticket.

His best result so far comes from the U23 European Championship in July 2021, when he distanced himself from the competition with 8142 points.

"Ride on the Razor Edge"

Not only the training performance strengthens the conviction that one can improve decisively.

In Tallinn, the favorite started significantly weakened.

His first, then severe corona illness had significantly shortened the preparation for the season;

the consequences of the virus, which laid him flat for three weeks, dragged Bechmann with him throughout the year.

He was also handicapped by bone edema in his foot in Estonia.

"If I hadn't been convinced back then that I could win, I wouldn't have competed at all," he says.

He doesn't want to risk a similar “ride on a knife's edge” again.

That's why the cancellation for Arona.

"WM is irrelevant for me"

In the current situation, Bechmann does not care much that a possible assignment at the World Championships in Eugene in mid-July, for which 8350 points would have been necessary in advance, is no longer an option.

"The World Cup is irrelevant to me," he says.

"I don't think it makes sense to do two decathlons at the highest level within three weeks."

The European Championship, which starts three weeks later, was his most important goal from the start.

He wants to be in top form here.

"Who knows if I'll ever experience a home game like this again as an athlete."