Damian Warner, one of Canada’s brightest medal hopes, misses London podium

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With Andre De Grasse’s absence from the IAAF World Championships, Damian Warner was considered one of Canada’s few safe bets to reach the podium.

As of Aug. 12, Canada remains off the board in the medal standings with Warner’s event concluded.

The decathlete and two-time IAAF World Championships medallist finished fifth in the 10-discipline event on Saturday with 8,309 points. Warner was in a medal position after posting the best time among all athletes in the 110m hurdles but faded over the final four events on day two of decathlon action.

According to the Toronto Star, the Canadian record holder and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist “fell ill with the flu bug, suspected to be Norovirus” prior to competition. He says he was not quite over the illness by the time the decathlon started on Friday.

Frenchman Kevin Mayer won with 8,768 points, the highest score recorded in 2017.

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Damian Warner in 6th place through 3 of 10 events in decathlon. Still to come today high jump and 400m #IAAFWorlds pic.twitter.com/aOPhjKvi10

— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) August 11, 2017

In terms of track results, Warner ran 10.50 for the 100m, which had him first overall through the opening event. The Calgary resident then clocked 47.47 for 400m, 13.63 for the 110m hurdles and 4:28.39 for the 1,500m, the final event. The 27-year-old holds the men’s 110m hurdles world best when contested within a decathlon.

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Warner struggled for the most part in the field events placing outside of the top-12 in the long jump, shot put, high jump, pole vault, discus throw and javelin. His discus performance was his worst in terms of points gained. (See an explanation of how decathlon scoring works here.) His best point score is 8,695.

Results

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	POINTS
1	937	Kevin MAYERFRA	8768 WL
2	992	Rico FREIMUTHGER	8564
3	1000	Kai KAZMIREKGER	8488 SB
4	888	Janek ÕIGLANEEST	8371 PB
5	764	Damian WARNERCAN	8309
6	1365	Oleksiy KASYANOVUKR	8234
7	1026	Kurt FELIXGRN	8227
8	828	Adam Sebastian HELCELETCZE	8222
9	880	Jorge UREÑAESP	8125 PB
10	1445	Devon WILLIAMSUSA	8088
11	949	Ashley BRYANTGBR	8049
12	1214	Martin ROENOR	8040
13	889	Karl Robert SALURIEST	8025 SB
14	878	Pau TONNESENESP	8006
15	916	Bastien AUZEILFRA	7922 SB
16	1196	Pieter BRAUNNED	7890
17	658	Dominik DISTELBERGERAUT	7857
18	640	Cedric DUBLERAUS	7728
19	1115	Akihiko NAKAMURAJPN	7646
20	1123	Keisuke USHIROJPN	7498
	1451	Zach ZIEMEKUSA	DNF