German Till Steinforth lead the competition after the first day of the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf Meeting 2024 decathlon. However, there were still five disciplines left in the competition. More than that, it was interesting whether Ratingen could change the world rankings in decathlon, which finally decide about te qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games. Here is my report of the second day at Städtisches Stadion Ratingen.
This posting comes with a section of 376 major size pictures in the 2024 Ratingen Mehrkampf Meeting section of the sports galleries.
Mehrkampf Meeting Ratingen – Decathlon Day 2
The 110m Hurdles heats started at 10:00. In contrast to the original schedule, they did not split the remaining athletes for the discus throw (11:00). However, pole vault and javelin throw was still held in two groups.
110m Hurdles
Estonian Karel Tulga withdrew from the competition. Additional, two more athletes, Australian Cedric Dubler and Spanish Jorge Urena, bowed out of the spring due to injuries. This meant that – despite having three heats in that morning event – only thirteen competitors were still active after this sixth event. Fred Isaav Fleurisson from Nauen in Germany came close to his personal best and was the fastest runner overall with a time of 13.96 seconds. Again, his countryman Till Steinforth had another discipline in which he placed on the podium. Despite just finishing seventh, Till Wolter hunted Steinforth as second placed in the overall ranking. Fred Isaac Fleurisson, however, nested int the sxth spot iof the intermediate table.
Athlete | Seconds | |
1st | Fred Isaac Fleurisson (Germany) | 13.96 |
2nd | Vilem Strasky (Czechia) | 14.05 |
3rd | Till Steinforth (Germany) | 14.12 |
Discus Throw
Dutch Rick Taam, who was still fighting for his ticket to the Olympic Games 2024, was the unluckiest athletes at disco throw. All of his three attempts were invalid, so that he had to bow out of the tournament. Due to the decreasing number of athletes, the initially expected two groups were merged so that all athletes competed in the same shift. Niels Pittomwils (Belgium) had the best throw with 48.25 meters in his second attempt. Dutch Leon Mak and German Felix Wolter both threw the discus over the 45 meter line.
Athlete | Meters | |
1st | Niels Pittomvils (Belgium) | 48.35 |
2nd | Leon Mak (Netherlands) | 45.53 |
3rd | Felix Wolter (Germany) | 45.42 |
Pole Vault
With only ten decathletes out of originally twenty ones listed left, the pole vault was also held in one group instead of two ones planned. Dubler finally withdrew as well after failing in his first attempt at 4.10 meters. Leon Mak and Felix Wolter finally had the best height in this event, with 5.00 meters height each. Vilem Strasky and Dutch Melchior Treffers placed third and fourth with 4.90 meters each. Till Steinforth struggled and just passed the bar at 4.70 meters, so that Wolter took over the lead after the eighth event.
Athlete | Meters | |
1st | Leon Mak (Netherlands) Felix Wolter (Germany) |
5.00 |
3rd | Vilem Strasky (Czechia) | 4.90 |
Javelin Throw
Three athletes dominated the javelin throw. Leon Mak had the best performance of all decathletes, throwing the javelin 59.85 meters wide. However, Till Steinforth (59.53m) and Niels Pittomvils (59.21m) were rather close. There was an almost four meter gap to fourth-placed Melchior Treffers, who had his personal best of 55.28 meters. Felix Wolter lost the points table lead again, struggling in this disciplne with a distance of 52.03 meters.
Athlete | Meters | |
1st | Leon Mak (Netherlands) | 59.85 |
2nd | Till Steinforth (Germany) | 59.53 |
3rd | Niels Pittomvils (Belgium) | 59.21 |
1500m
Due to the decreased number of competitors, the decathlon closed more than half an hour earlier than scheduled with the 1500 meter event. Nine athletes were left in the middle distance run. Vilem Strasky was the bravest runner and tried to keep the pace of the race high initially. However, with some 450 meters left to go, he almost collapsed, but still finished eighth remarkably. The fastest six racers all ran personal best or season best times in the fast race. German Marcel Mayer and Niels Pittomvils, however, finally dominated on the last lap, having a more than three seconds gap to third-placed Felix Wolter. However, Till Steinforth, whose 4:37.73 min was five seconds faster than his previous personal best finished fourth and thus sealed the overall victory in the Ratingen decathlon.
Athlete | Time (min) | |
1st | Marcel Meyer (Germany) | 4:31.47 |
2nd | Niels Pittomvils (Belgium) | 4:31.76 |
3rd | Felix Wolter (Germany) | 4:35.07 |
Decathlon Total Result
Till Steinforth was the man of the day in Ratingen. He improved his personal best by over 200 points, winning the competition over Felix Wolter. Vilem Strasky’s brave heart in the final discipline still sealed the Czech the third spot, but made him just drop out of a result with more than 8,000 points. Three more athletes, Melchior Treffers, Leon Mak and Fred Isaac Fleurisson also finished the Ratingen weekend with a new personal best performance.
Athlete | Points | |
1. | Till Steinforth (Germany) | 8.287 |
2. | Felix Wolter (Germany) | 8.226 |
3. | Vilem Strasky (Czechia) | 7,986 |
4. | Niels Pittomvils (Belgium) | 7,906 |
5. | Melchior Treffers (Netherlands) | 7,882 |
6. | Marcel Meyer (Germany) | 7,749 |
7. | Leon Mak (Netherlands) | 7,689 |
8. | Nils Laserich (Germany) | 7,635 |
9. | Fred Isaac Fleurisson (Germany) | 7,551 |
All other athletes did not finish the competition.
Mehrkampf Meeting Ratingen – Decathlon Day 2 – Gallery
In the 2024 Ratingen Mehrkampf Meeting section of my sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 376 pictures of this match at
Mehrkampf Meeting Ratingen 2024 – Coverage Overview
Here is an overview of my coverage of the 2024 Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf Meeting::
- 2024-06-22 Day 1 – Heptathlon
- 2024-06-22 Day 1 – Decathlon
- 2024-06-23 Day 2 – Heptathlon
- 2024-06-23 Day 2 – Decathlon
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