Career
His sports club was the University of Southern California Mainz. He could not participate at the 1980 Summer Olympics because of the boycott. In 1980, Kratschmer broke the world record held by Daley Thompson, but in 1982, Kratschmer"s mark was in turn topped by Thompson.
This total ranks him sixth all-time among German decathletes, behind Jürgen Hingsen, Uwe Freimuth, Siegfried Wentz, Frank Busemann and Torsten Voss.