Canada's Damian Warner, Brianne Theisen win at Hypo Meeting
Both extend leads in respective decathlon, heptathlon events
Damian Warner held on to his lead from the opening day to win the men's decathlon at the Hypo Meeting on Sunday, while fellow Canadian Brianne Theisen won the women's heptathlon.
In cold and windy conditions, Warner took the hurdles to increase his lead before winning the IAAF World Challenge event with 8,307 points, 125 clear of Carlos Chinin of Brazil. Gunnar Nixon of the United States came third with 8,136.
"This weekend has been awesome," said Warner, who placed fifth at the 2012 London Olympics. "The weather made it really hard but we made the most of it and now we're moving on toward (the world championships in) Moscow."
The London, Ont., native struggled during the pole vault, only clearing his opening height of 4.46 metres at his third and last attempt. Kai Kazmirek of Germany, was who second after the opening day, failed to score points in the discipline and dropped to 15th overall.
"It was pretty tough," Warner said. "I wasn't sure of the score. I didn't really keep track of it. I just wanted to win here."
In the heptathlon, Theisen, a native of Humboldt, Sask., defended her slim five-point overnight lead by finishing on 6,376 to beat Dutch pair Nadine Broersen (6,345) and Dafne Schippers (6,287).
"Aside from the two throwing events it was almost perfect. This was so great," Theisen said, adding the cold and the wind hadn't bothered her. "Maybe that was my advantage as I am used to this kind of weather."
Theisen briefly lost her lead to Schippers after the long jump, but went top of the leaderboard again after the javelin and placed second in the 800 metres.
World champion Tatyana Chernova of Russia placed fourth, trailing Theisen by 92 points.
European decathlon champion Pascal Behrenbruch of Germany quit the competition after gaining only 3,966 points on Saturday, leaving himself without a reasonable chance of reaching the 8,000-point qualifying standard for the worlds in August.
Olympic winner and Theisen's fiancee Ashton Eaton, world champion Trey Hardee and former world record holder Roman Sebrle all pulled out with injuries before the meeting.