By Sudipto Ganguly
TOKYO (Reuters) – Canada’s Damian Warner made a flying start in his quest for the decathlon gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, tying his own world record in 100 metres and then bettering the Games’ best in long jump in the event.
The all-round athletics test, which covers 10 disciplines spread over two days, opened on Wednesday in blistering conditions at the Olympic Stadium.
But the heat and humidity were no hurdle for the 31-year-old Warner who got the proceedings underway by equalling his own world decathlon best of 10.12 second in the 100m.
Warner arrived in Tokyo as the leading decathlete in the world in 2021 after scoring 8,995 points at a meet in Gotzis, Austria in May.
The score is the fifth best in the history of the sport with France’s decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer’s 9126 from 2018 topping the all-time list.
After his strong opening sprint, Warner soared to an incredible 8.24m in the long jump, four centimetres short off his world decathlon best but a new Olympic record in the sport.
The leap would have earned Warner a bronze medal in the men’s long jump event ahead of Cuban jumper Maykel Masso’s third-place finish of 8.21.
Warner sent his shot put to a distance of 14.80m in the final event of the morning to add 777 points to his overall tally of 2966, opening up a lead of close to 200 points at the top over compatriot Pierce LePage.
The competitors are awarded points for their performance in each discipline with the medals going to the athletes who score the most points.
The 25-year-old LePage ran the 100m in 10.43 and covered 7.65m in his long jump before climbing up the standings to the second spot with a personal-best shot put haul of 15.31m.
Vitaly Zhuk of Belarus topped the shot put round with a throw of 16.23.
Australian 21-year-old Ash Moloney was in third spot in the overall decathlon standings, ahead of Frenchman Mayer in fourth.
Mayer clocked 10.68 in the 100m, and then jumped to 7.50m before covering 15.07m in his shot put round for a total of 2662 points.
Belgium’s Thomas van der Plaetsen suffered a horrific injury on his first attempt in the long jump and was carried off in a wheelchair. He did not take part in the shot put.
The participants will return during the evening session for the high jump and 400m disciplines with 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m set for Thursday.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
