Pan Am Games: Warner breaks national record, Marchant wins bronze

Damian Warner, leading the decathlon from the beginning the to finish, won his first Pan Am championship to add to his Commonwealth Games gold and world championships bronze in a new Games and Canadian record.

Going into the final event, the men’s 1,500m, he needed to run a PB to break the Canadian record. He did that and then some, running 4:24.73, bettering his personal best in the event by five seconds and in turn bettering Michael Smith’s 1996 national record by 33 points to score 8659.

Asked what type of score he think’s he capable of, Warner noted he keeps that to himself.

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you a number. There’s always a number up there for me and myself to work through and chase but I like to keep the numbers out of it,” said Warner after his record-setting performance. “But at the same time there’s always a number up there I think I’m capable of.”

Asked if he’s anywhere close to that number in his head: “I don’t believe so.”

Warner will look to improve on his world championship finish in Beijing later this summer.

Lanni Marchant, Canada’s national record holder in the marathon, managed a bronze in the 10,000m, racing to 32:46.03 finish behind Desiree Davila of the United States and winner Brenda Flores of Mexico. Flores’ time of 32:41.33 marks a new Pan Am Games record, though the top four women were all under the previous mark.

“I came in wanting to podium. I knew I could win if the race went in my favour. We were a bit slow early on which left some girls in the race who, if we’d had a bit stricter pace they might not have been there,” said Marchant about the race.

“I just wanted to represent Canada. Each time I surged the crowd was right there with me. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Davila and Marchant, who have trained together in Kenya, traded the lead four times in the final kilometre while Flores waited, sprinting by them on the final lap.

Natasha Wodak fell off the pace mid-race, finishing seventh in 33:20.14.

“It was just a bad day,” commented Wodak, visibly upset. “Obviously I’ve got a lot of work to do, so I’ll go back home, sit down with my coach and figure out what went wrong today.”

Andre De Grasse qualified for the final by finishing third in his semifinal behind Panamanian Alonso Edward, the 2009 world championship silver medallist. De Grasse noted after his race he felt tired. He’s raced a long season up to this point and plans to stretch it into August for the world championships.

Rasheed Dwyer of Jamaica broke the Pan Am Games record, running 19.80 to blow away the second semifinal. The time makes him the second-fastest 200m runner in the world this year behind Justin Gatlin.

Kimberly Hyacinthe also qualified for the women’s 200m final tomorrow running 22.81 in get the first qualifier based on time.