Damian Warner captures record 7th decathlon title at Hypo Meeting
CBC Sports | Posted: May 29, 2022 4:53 PM | Last Updated: May 29, 2022
Reigning Olympic champion has won the event 6 consecutive times
Canada's Damian Warner claimed a sixth-consecutive decathlon Hypo Meeting title on Sunday, extending his record-total to seven in Götzis, Austria.
The 32-year-old London, Ont., native finished with 8,797 points overall to edge Grenada's Lindon Victor by 350 points for the win.
Warner began Day 2 in second place, but a win in the men's 110-metre hurdles in 13.48 seconds put him into the lead at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meet.
A second-place finish in the discus throw and a fourth-place result in the pole vault helped maintain the Canadian's momentum.
WATCH | Warner overcomes Day 1 deficit to rule decathlon in Austria:
Warner then finished sixth and 10th in the javelin throw and 1,500, respectively, to amass 8,797 points overall and edge Grenada's Lindon Victory by 30 points and see out the win.
The Canadian entered the final day of competition two points behind leader Simon Ehammer of Switzerland, who finished third with 8,377 points.
Warner is the reigning Olympic decathlon champion, having also won bronze in Rio 2016.
On Saturday, Warner placed first in the men's 100 in 10.14, 2-1000ths of a second shy of his personal best and decathlon world best from the 2019 Hypo Meeting and matched at last year's Tokyo Olympics.
Fellow Canadian Pierce LePage only made it through two events on Saturday before registering as a DNF (did not finish) in the overall standings.
In March, Warner became a first-time world athletics indoor champion after beating Ehammer by 126 points in the seven-event heptathlon.
Warner placed third in the men's 1,000, the final event in Belgrade, Serbia, to overtake Ehammer for his first heptathlon title in three world indoor appearances, raising his national heptathlon record to 6,489 points.
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