At the Trainingscamp in Lanzarote I talked to the national Decathloncoach Sepp Schmidl about the Decathlonseason 2000.

The limit for one athlete to start at the Olympic Games in Sydney is 8000 points, for two or three athletes it is 8050 points. In case if two athletes score +8000 but sub 8050, this one with the higher score will be qualified. The favorite for the limit seems to be Klaus Ambrosch who scored allready a PR in the early season 7892 points in Australia, and who showed up in a good shape at the trainingscamp in Lanzarote. The best Austrian from last year, who scored a PR of 8039 points in Götzis 1999, but then was injured is Thomas Tebbich. He had a surgery on his knee last December, but he seems to be recoverd, and was on trainingscamps in Cuba and Southafrica to get in shape again. The athlete who showed the best indoorseason is Roland Schwarzl, the 3^rd of the European Junior Championships in Decathlon last season. For Sepp Schmidl he has a potential between 7600 and 7800 points this season. But if everythings goes fine, and he makes a perfect Decathlon, he thinks that Schwarzl can also score his first +8000 score. Michael Schnallinger who is the same age like Schwarzl and also scored +7400 points last year recoverd good from a serious injury he had last year and showed good improvements indoor. He was also at Lanzarote, and is in good shape. He thinks that he can do the pole vault and discus much better than last year, and wants to score between 7600 and 8000 points this season. Thomas Weiler still studies at Kansas State and recovers slowly from a serious achilles tendon injury. He did a first meeting, where he ran 15,10 seconds the 110m Hurdles and threw the Discus to 37,80 meters. Perhaps he will comete this summer in Austria at a Decathlon again.

The first test for the Decathlonteam will be two weeks before Götzis in Lienz, where they will compete in a Pentathlon. The good Long Jump Pit promises high scores. Last years European Junior Champion Aki Heikkinen from Finland will also start there. The first try for the limit will be in Götzis at the begin of June. The expected Austrian competitors will be Klaus Ambrosch, Thomas Tebbich, Roland Schwarzl, Michael Schnallinger and Thomas Walser. Next chance might be the Jedermann Decathlon in Vienna, which will have an international IAAF-Group. But the ÖLV must approve the meeting for Olympia qualification before. At the begin of July at the European Cup Sepp Schmidl wants a strong team to start there, so that Austria qualifies for the Super League for the next year. But he also said, that this meeting is not a good chance to qualify, because it is a very long competition with many athletes. A much better chance to qualify will be the German Qualification Meeting in Ratingen, on 22./23. of July, that is an open meeting. Last chance might be Talence a week later. The Austrian Decathlon Championships will be held on the 5./6. of August in Ried.

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