Victorious Pierce LePage makes world decathlon history in leading Canada's 4-medal haul

In a span of one hour, Canada more than doubled its medal total at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Decathletes Pierce LePage and Damian Warner finished 1-2 on Saturday, the former with a personal-best 8,909 points to become the first Canadian to win world championship gold in the event.

"I don't think it's really set in yet," LePage told CBC Sports' Andi Petrillo. "It's so now to share the podium with [Warner]. We've been competing and doing stuff together for so long, it's just good, nice."

Edmonton runner Marco Arop got the medal podium parade started at 2:35 p.m. ET with his victory in the men's 800 metres in a time of one minute 44.24 seconds on a humid evening at the National Athletics Centre.

Sarah Mitton, who was named co-captain of the Canadian squad with Arop, then topped 20 metres for the first time this season en route to a silver medal about 45 minutes later after falling one centimetre short of bronze at last year's worlds in Eugene, Ore. She is the first-ever Canadian woman to pick up a medal at the event.

Canada has six medals ahead of the final day of competition in Hungary, topping the four last year's team racked up. Hammer throwers Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg won gold earlier this week.

WATCH | LePage delivers personal-best performance in world decathlon:

Pierce LePage wins historic decathlon title, fellow Canadian Damian Warner claims silver

2 hours ago

Duration 8:27

Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., becomes the first Canadian to win gold in the decathlon at the World Athletics Championships, while London, Ont., native Damian Warner captures silver.

LePage, who hails from Whitby, Ont., will leave Budapest a little sore after twisting his right shoulder in long jump on Friday and having his knee buckle after clearing 1.99m in high jump later in the day. Then, he injured his hamstring before Saturday's first event, the 110m hurdles.

LePage grabbed a silver medal at worlds last summer behind Frenchman Kevin Mayer, who withdrew in Budapest on Friday after completing the 100 metres and long jump.

In May, LePage picked up his first international win, defeating Warner at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria to end the London, Ont., native's win streak at six. LePage earned 2019 Pan Am bronze behind the victorious Warner in Peru.

LePage and Warner began Saturday's competition in second and third, respectively, through five of the 10 decathlon events. LePage soon climbed to first, a spot he wouldn't relinquish.

Warner sat second through the 110-metre hurdles, discus and pole vault. He beat his compatriot on the track with a 13.67-second clocking, 10-100ths of a second faster than LePage, who extended his lead placing second in discus with a throw of 50.98m.

Warner was clinging to silver medal position by 15 points over Lindon Victor of Grenada after pole vault. Victor passed Warner by picking up 76 points on the Canadian in javelin. But Warner is strong in the 1,500 and earned 78 more points than Victor in the race to finish with a season-best 8,804. His opponent ended with a national record 8,756.

"I thought every event today I fought hard and very proud of myself how I did it," LePage said.

For Warner, Saturday's silver was the fourth of his career at worlds.

"Pierce beat me today, he was the better man and I'm really happy for him," said the reigning Olympic champion. "I'm proud of myself for how I fought."

WATCH | Warner discusses his world championship performance:

Damian Warner reflects on collecting 4th career medal at worlds

1 hour ago

Duration 2:41

London, Ont., native Damian Warner discusses winning silver in decathlon at the World Athletics Championships.

Warner added leaving Budapest healthy with a season best effort puts him in good position for the Paris Summer Games next July.

Arop, the 24-year-old from Edmonton settled in the back of the pack early on before making a move to the outside around the 500m mark. He took the lead to stay with about 300m to the line and looked strong in the closing metres.

Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the former under-20 world champion who was fastest in heats and set the pace in the semifinals, was second in 1:44.53, followed by Ben Pattison of Great Britain (1:44.83).

In last year's world final, Arop took the lead with about 300m to the finish but was later passed by Kenya's Emmanuel Korir and Djamel Sedjati of Algeria in the closing metres.

A path to gold was cleared on Saturday with Korir absent from race. He failed to advance to the semifinals after not full recovering from a left foot injury suffered in March while Sedjati was disqualified from the final.

WATCH | Arop caputres gold for 2nd straight world championship 800m medal:

Canada's Marco Arop speeds to 800m gold at the worlds

3 hours ago

Duration 4:10

The Edmonton runner captured Canada's first-ever gold medal in the 800 meters after a dominant second lap.