He held the European record in the 400 metres from 1972 until 1980 with a time of 44.70 s. At the 1972 Summer Olympics he placed seventh in the 400 m and fourth in the 4 × 400 m relay.

In 1974 in Rome, he won gold in the 400m with a time of 45.04 seconds, ahead of David Jenkins (GB) and Bernd Herrmann, and silver in the 4 × 400 m (with Köhler, Schlöske and Ziegler) with a time of 3:03.52 minutes, behind Great Britain and ahead of France.

In 1972 he became German champion in the 400 m, with a European record time of 44.70 seconds,[2] in front of Bernd Herrmann and Hermann Köhler.

He repeated this in 1973, running in 45.60 seconds and finishing in front of Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske and Köhler.

6 young athlete of all time in the 400 m.[3] He ranks fourth on the German all-time records for the 400 m.[4]