PARIS — The numbers are not exactly positive, but Damian Warner always is, and maybe the reigning Olympic decathlon champion ought to receive the benefit of the mathematical doubt.
Besides, the 34-year-old from London, Ont., is going to have a large spear in his hand on Saturday evening; do you really want to provoke the man?
Halfway through the torture test that is the two-day, 10-event Olympic decathlon at Stade de France, Warner has scored 4,561 points and sits in fourth place, trailing Leo Neugebauer of Germany by 89, with Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme (4,608) and Norway’s Sander Skotheim (4,588) in between. As deficits go, that is neither insignificant nor insurmountable, given the inevitable jockeying for position that comes on Day Two.
But, for the sake of context, Warner’s day one total was a smashing 4,722 en route to gold and an Olympic record in Tokyo in 2021; 4,578 in Budapest when he won a world championship silver in 2023; and 4,585 in Gotzis, Austria this spring when he won his eighth Hypomeeting title.
So he’ll need to do something special on Saturday when the decathletes compete in the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault and javelin before finishing in a heap after running the 1,500m.
“There’s a lot of ups and downs,” he said of his Day One performance that included a win in the 100 metres and a dismal 13th-place finish in shot put. “A lot of things that I can pick and wish I could have been a little bit better, but that’s a decathlon for you. It’s going to be some ups and downs, some ebbs and some flows.”
As much as this is a competition between some of the best athletes on the planet, it is more man against the tape measure and man against the clock, and after starting strong, Warner lost ground and time. And, while he generally scores fewer points on Day Two, he sees potential where others see a potential problem.
“That’s kind of been how it’s gone throughout my career, is that the second day’s a lot harder to score points, but that’s not only for myself, that’s for every decathlete,” he said. “The second day is very technical, it’s a lot harder, a lot more opportunity to make mistakes. But the cool thing for me is that my potential lies on the second day. If I can improve and get the results that I know I can get in the javelin, in the 1,500, in the pole vault, then that’s where my score can come from, and that’s where I can make up this lead.”
He’s a lock to win the 110m hurdles to kick off Day Two. Then he needs to tap into that potential in the discus, pole vault and javelin before everything shakes out in the last lap of the 1,500 and the medals are decided.
“Other people can mess up on day two,” he said. “Other people can stumble and drop out and do all these kind of things, so the decathlon’s just a whole minefield of traps and stuff that you just have to avoid, and it’s going to be who avoids the most tomorrow.
“You either have a feeling of catching up or a feeling of fending off all the other competitors. Both positions have pressure, but it’s a lot easier to be the chaser than it is to be the person in the front. I’m a chaser tomorrow, and I start off with my strongest event, the hurdles.”
Two weeks ago, he envisioned needing 9,000 points just to stake out a place on the podium. That was before Canadian teammate and reigning world champ Pierce LePage pulled out with a back injury that needs surgery, before world record holder Kevin Mayer of France pulled out with a thigh injury, and before Australian Ashley Moloney, the bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, pulled the plug after a dismal three events on Friday.
Now, who knows? Maybe 8,800? And Warner can certainly get there. It would have been easier but for that shot put score; 756 points for 14.45m. Yeesh.
“You have to kind of change your mindset and just kind of leave it in the past or else it can kind of be like an anchor and pull you down,” he said. “The shot put was not good. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. It just kind of sucked, and I’ve just got to move on and don’t let that mess me up.
“Shot put’s been one of those events where it seems like I have one good day, and then a bad day and one good day, and three bad days. It’s been so inconsistent over the years. Unfortunately, today we got the inconsistent Damian, but some of the other events were good enough to keep me in this race.”
He was first after the 100 metres, still first after the long jump, fell to second after the shot put, third after the high jump, and fourth after going out quick and tying up in the 400m.
“If it was a 350-meter race, I think I would have done pretty well,” he laughed.
And that is the kind of positive spin for which he is famous. Well, that and an Olympic gold medal. So yeah, give him the benefit of the doubt.