Who are Leo Neugebauer’s parents? All we know about the 2025 world champion’s athletic roots

German multi-event track star Leo Neugebauer has continued to impress after winning the gold medal in the Men's Decathlon at the World Athletics Championships 2025 with a total score of 8804 points, finishing 20 points ahead of Puerto Rico's Ayden Owens-Delerme who recorded 8784. His path to success however, is no surprise when you consider his sporting background and familial ties to sports.

Neugebauer's father, Terrance, moved from Cameroon during the mid 90's to pursue a professional football career. His father even tried to get Leo to play professional football, enrolling him in football initially before he decided to pursue athletics. Leo's mother is named Diana, who is German. He also has one sister.

Leo Neugebauer decided to fully commit himself to athletics at the age of six, competing in his hometown outside Stuttgart. Neugebauer competed in multiple track events, eventually deciding on the decathlon. He would go on to establish himself as one of the rising stars in the sport by competing at the 2016 German Junior Athletics Championship and winning a bronze medal at the Under-18 World Championships.

The German then decided to move to the United States to pursue a collegiate career in the decathlon, enrolling at the University of Texas on a scholarship. He won two NCAA titles in the decathlon in 2023 and 2024, and gained international recognition for breaking the 39-year-old German decathlon record set by Jürgen Hingsen with a score of 8836 points. Neugebauer qualified for the 2023 World Championships as well, where he earned fifth place.

Neugebauer would go on to compete at the Paris Olympics, where he grabbed a silver medal in the decathlon with a score of 8748 points. With a world title to his name now, there is no telling what he will achieve next.

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Leo Neugebauer on the cultural differences between the United States and Germany

Neugebauer at the 2025 World Championships - Source: Getty

Leo Neugebauer recently discussed the cultural differences between Germany and the United States. Neugebauer moved from Stuttgart to Austin, Texas to compete at the University of Texas.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, he said:

"I am a Swabian, and Swabians are famously thrifty. That is in my blood—except when it comes to food. I really like to travel short distances here in Austin by e-scooter, while many of my friends here more often take the car for that. That is probably this Swabian thriftiness, which Americans do not have so much."

"Americans simply live in the here and now and from paycheck to paycheck; we Germans sometimes perhaps too much in the future. I try to find a middle ground for myself there."

Leo Neugebauer also discussed the possibility of moving back to Germany, and said that he would love to start a family there or in Europe.