Canadian decathlete Damian Warner had an explosive start to his competition: setting an Olympic record in the decathlon’s 100-metre competition.
The London, Ontario native ran the 100-metres, the decathlon’s first event, in a time of 10.30 seconds in a headwind. While not his personal best, it was much faster than any other decathlete in Rio — and faster than any Olympic decathlete ever, beating competitor Ashton Eaton’s record from London 2012.
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Eaton, who is representing the U.S., made it up in the long jump though, with a jump of 7.94 metres. This was enough to put him ahead of Warner in the overall ranking. Eaton widened his lead after the shot put event as well, with Warner throwing the shot only a disappointing 13.66 metres — well behind his personal best of 14.74 metres.
However, after three events, Warner was in a solid second place behind Eaton, the reigning Olympic champion. Warner had 2,708 points and Eaton had 2,803.
France’s Kevin Mayer was in third place after three events with 2,699 points.
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The high jump and 400-metre races happen Wednesday starting at 4:45 p.m. ET, and the final five events in the decathlon (110-metre hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500-metre race) are on Thursday.
Warner finished fifth at the London Olympics in 2012 and second at the world championships in 2015.
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