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German National Athletics Champs. Bishops Diocesan College, Cape Town, Grade 11 learner, Daniel Von der Heyden, took part in the German National Athletics Champs. The championships was held in Hannover, Germany, over the past weekend.
The U18 men’s decathlon competition brought together the best 35 decathletes from across Germany and internationally. Included were also various athletes ranked in the top 10 globally. Being the premier event of the German athletics season, the athletes were in peak condition with many personal best performances achieved over the 2 days. This made it challenging for Daniel, since he has not had any athletics competition for four months. He also has had to contend with one of the wettest Cape winters in memory, which has made training and preparation difficult.
Daniel’s performances outstanding
Daniel’s performances were nonetheless outstanding. He was positioned second for most of the first day, leading the field briefly after the third event (Shot Put) as well as overnighted in the silver medal position. He had a strong start to the second day and led the competition from the 6th (110m hurdles) until the final event. The competition was also fierce, with only 100 points separating the top four athletes going into the final event. There were also some very strong runs in the 1500m. From the German athletes and Daniel finished in the bronze medal position, a narrow 9 points behind the silver medal and only 32 points behind the gold.
Daniel scored 7129 points overall, finishing the competition with 6 new personal best performances. He also set a new SA U18 men’s decathlon record, improving his record set in April by almost 200 points. Daniel is now ranked 8th in the world for the U18 men’s decathlon.
His individual performances:
Day 1
- 100m: 11.15s
- LJ: 6.78m
- SP: 15.13m
- HJ: 1.80m
- 400m: 50.90s
Day 2
- 110mH: 14.88s
- DT: 39.03m
- PV: 4.00m
- JV: 52.64m
- 1500m: 4:55.36s
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