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Damian Warner comes full circle by breaking Canadian decathlon record at Pan Am Games

 

 Damian Warner of Canada celebrates after he won the men's decathlon on July 23, 2015 in Toronto, Canada.  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Damian Warner of Canada celebrates after he won the men's decathlon on July 23, 2015 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

It was a moment Damian Warner knew was coming. He didn’t know when or where it would happen, but he had always believed he had talent to reach new heights in the decathlon.

“Before my first decathlon I had big dreams,” said the 25-year-old. “I thought I was going to be a world record holder from the start, but I kind of learned about patience and I continue to teach myself about patience and let things come where they may and do my best.”

On Thursday, Warner made history when he broke the 19-year-old Canadian points record set by Michael Smith (8,626) back in 1996. He finished with 8,653 and set a new Pan Am record in the process.

“I knew I wanted the Canadian record so bad,” said Warner. “I didn’t think there was a better place to have it here at home.”

It was at the old track and field centre on the grounds of York University that Warner competed in his first ever competition. So it was a sort of homecoming for the London, Ont., native.

“It’s kind of come full circle and I’m so grateful of it,” said Warner.

Heading into the final event – the men’s 1,500-meters – Warner needed to finish with a time below 4.29, which would match his personal best. He finished with a time of 4:24.73.

Prior to the race, he spoke to Kurt Felix – the eventual silver medallist – about the kind of pace they wanted to set for their run.

“We basically talked about the pace to get him the Canadian record and for me to get over 8,300 (points),” said Felix, who finished just shy with a personal best of 8,269.

“He had a pretty decent second day today wasn’t really about trying to catch (Warner) but to keep up with him as much as possible.”

Warner started the final day of his competition with a commanding lead over his closest rivals. As the day progressed, Warner had widened the gap even further with a 286-point lead with one event remaining.

His point totals were buoyed by a personal best in discus (47.56m) and a stunning run of 13.44 seconds in the 110-metre hurdles – a new decathlon best – surpassing the mark set by German Frank Busemann at the 1996 Olympics.

In total, Warner finished first in five disciplines – the 100-metre, long jump, 400-metre, 1,500-metre and 110-metre hurdles.

Warner capped off a historic day for Canada, as earlier on Thursday Whitney McClintock finished first in the waterski slalom event to win the country’s 65th gold medal. It broke the previous record of 64 gold medals set in Winnipeg at the 1999 Pan Am Games. Warner’s medal – the last given out on the night – left Canada with 69 gold and a total of 187 medals.

It’s been a banner week thus far for Canada on the track. After the events on Thursday Canada had amassed a total of 15 athletics medals – eight of which were gold. Canada’s second medal of the day went to Lanni Marchant who won bronze in the women’s 10,000-metre race with a time of 32 minutes 46.03 seconds.

“I was third to two very strong runners,” said Marchant of Brenda Flores (gold) and Desiree Davila (silver). “I just wanted to represent Canada and the crowd and every time I tried to surge and take the lead over that last 1,200 (the fans) were behind me all the way, so I couldn’t have asked for anything else.”

Markham’s Andre De Grasse, who won gold in the men’s 100m on Wednesday, qualified for Friday’s men’s 200m with a first place finish in his heat and a time of 20.17 seconds. De Grasse said he didn’t back to the athletes’ village until late after his medal ceremony and running the media gauntlet on Wednesday night. Though he was adamant he didn’t want to use that as an excuse for what he deemed a slow start.

“Right now it’s not how I feel, it’s how bad I want it,” said De Grasse after his heat on Thursday evening. “I didn’t want to give it away, but I’m just going to try to get some treatment and get some rest and get ready for the 200 finals tomorrow.

“I still want to come out here and medal so I’m going to give it my all tomorrow in the finals.”

Both De Grasse and Warner are preparing for the world track and field championships being held next month in Beijing, China. But first, Warner has a few other items of business to take care of after Friday’s medal ceremony.

“After I’m done with all the interviews and stuff, me and my family are going to go to Dave and Busters and play some games and have some dinner,” said Warner. “Just spend some time with them … then slowly recover and get ready for Beijing.”