Damian Warner

Damian David George Warner (born November 4, 1989) is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and a four-time world medallist (silver in 2015 and 2023, bronze in 2013 and 2019). Warner also won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 Commonwealth champion and a two-time Pan American champion from the 2015 and 2019 Games. Competing in the heptathlon, he is the 2022 World Indoor champion.

Warner holds the Olympic Games, Pan Am Games and the Canadian national records for the decathlon and the fourth-highest decathlon score in history (9018 points). Notable for his sprinting, Warner holds decathlon bests in the 100 m and 110 m hurdles, running a 10.12 and 13.27, respectively. He formerly held the decathlon best in the long jump (8.28 m) as well.

Warner was born on November 4, 1989, in London, Ontario to Kevin Warner and Brenda Philpott. He attended Montcalm Secondary School where he first showed his athleticism in Grade 10 on the football field and basketball courts. Warner's natural talent saw him move effortlessly into the athletics scene and by the age of 20, he had won silver in the decathlon at the 2010 Canadian championships with a final score of 7449. He continued to improve over the next two years, winning the decathlon in the next two national championships. His winning performance of 8107 in the 2012 championships was below the Olympic A qualifying standard of 8200, but in combination with his perceived future potential, he was selected to represent Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Warner placed fifth at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, with a point total of 8442, a jump of 335 points over his previous best score.

2013 World Championship bronze and 2014 Commonwealth Games title
In his first outing of 2013, Warner won at the high-profile Hypo Meeting with a score of 8307 points, including bests of 2.09 m in the high jump and 62.84 m in the javelin throw. Following this, Warner went into the 2013 World Championships in Athletics; after the first day, he was in fifth place, but on the second day, he tied a personal best in the pole vault and threw a personal best in the javelin to fight his way into the bronze medal position. After achieving his medal he said "This is such a great feeling, all the hard work my coaches and I put into this the last couple of years. In 2011 I finished 18th and saw the three medallists running around the track with their country's flags draped over their shoulders; I told my coaches that I want that to be me, pretty special feeling to achieve that." Warner's final score of 8,512 was a new personal best and was the first time a Canadian reached the podium in the decathlon at the World Championships since Mike Smith in 1995. He ended his 2013 season with a win at the Decastar meeting with a tally of 8161 points.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games took place in Glasgow, Scotland. There Warner participated in the decathlon, winning the event with a score of 8,282. This was Warner's first decathlon of the year as he was sidelined much of the year with an ankle injury. Despite this, he ran to a 10.29 in the 100 m, a games record for the decathlon, while also setting a PB in the 400 at 47.68. He finished the second day with a games record in the 110 m hurdles in a time of 13.50.

2015 Pan Am Games champion and World Championship silver
In 2015 Warner competed for the first time at the Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, but all three of his shot put attempts and did not finish the event. The next major event for him was the 2015 Pan American Games on home soil in Toronto. Warner came into the event as the favourite and broke the national and Pan Am Games records with a score of 8,626. This beat Smith's record, which had stood since 1996.

One month later, at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, Warner set a new national record of 8695 points and won a silver medal, behind Ashton Eaton's new world record.

2016 Olympic bronze