Collegiate Record: Leo Neugebauer Is Among History’s Decathlon Elite

How good is Leo Neugebauer’s new decathlon CR of 8961?

“He’s sending out notice,” said ESPN analyst Dan O’Brien as the Paris Olympics begin late next month.

O’Brien was one of the many impressed by Neugebauer’s performance at the 2024 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and he knows that territory about as well as anyone, having won Olympic gold in the event in Atlanta in 1996.

The score puts Neugebauer among the event’s elite – he’s now No. 6 on the all-time world list, and the five ahead of him have all won at least one Olympic or World Championships gold medal.

Neugebauer was special last year, breaking the CR by 116 points to win his first NCAA title en route to becoming a finalist for The Bowerman.

This year he added 125 more points, winning by 830 points. His score after just nine events – 8309 – would have won every NCAA title prior to 2010.

The likable Texas senior was obviously happy with his performance, but he also critiqued himself, noting “Just one PR – in the shot put – and I tied one in the pole vault, so I know I have a little more left in the tank.”

That being said, Neugebauer’s Day 2 total of 4276 is an all-time collegiate best.

Here’s an event-by-event look at his new record:

100: He clocked 10.64, his second-fastest ever and near his PR 10.61 from last year’s CR.

LJ: He went 7.86m (25-9½), his best in a decathlon collegiately. It could have been farther except for a hand drag, but he was up 38 points on his 8836 score.

SP: He nailed his only outright PR in the meet with a first-round 17.46m (57-3½), surpassing his own best ever in a decathlon by a collegian. A second-round foul appeared to land near 18.00m (59-0). He was now 112 points up on his CR as his projection was at 8948.

HJ: He cleared 8 heights and matched his outdoor PR of 2.07m (6-9½). He was now 140 points up on his CR, projecting to 8976.

400: With a 48.03, he completed Day 1 better than any collegian ever with 4685 points (the old best was 4660 by Georgia’s Kyle Garland in 2022. He now projected to 8930.

110H: Neugebauer clocked 14.36, just off his 14.33 PR, but he actually lost points on his CR, which included a wind-aided 14.10. His projection dipped down to 8897. 

DT: Not a PR, but a dec-WR of 57.70m (189-4) in breaking the 55.87m (183-3) set in 2005 by Bryan Clay. His projection was back up to 8953.

PV: He stayed even with the projection here, tying his PR from the CR at 5.21m (17-1).

JT: A toss of 56.64m (185-10) brought the projection down a tad to 8940.

1500: Even though it meant a time of 4:38.38 (his PR is 4:42.68), Neugebauer targeted that mark, which would have given him 9000 points. He was near the pace needed for about two laps before settling for 4:44.61 to finish off his masterpiece.