Canada's LePage sets sights on Olympic gold after historic world decathlon title win

Pierce LePage has one more mountain to climb, one more goal to reach.

The Whitby, Ont., native made history on Saturday, striking gold in the men's decathlon at the World Athletics Championships. He became the first Canadian to win a world title in the event.

His 8,909 points were not only a world-leading score and personal best — his previous best was 8,701 in his silver-medal effort at the 2022 worlds — it was also the sixth-best performance ever.

All that eludes the 27-year-old now is the title "Olympic champion."

"I feel like every track athlete wants to be an Olympic champion," he said in a Zoom interview. "I'm world champion now, so that's what's missing.

While LePage views the added attention he will get ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics as a "motivator", he says it's just a matter of continuing to put it all together.

"I always knew I was capable of these scores or results," he said. "I think if you add up all my PBs (personal bests), it's like 9,300 or 9,200 points. I always knew it was there, it's just about getting it all together.

"I think it's just the same thing I had been doing the past couple of years with my coach, just improving consistency, making sure when I get to an event, if I throw a 50 [metres] in discus, I'm not throwing 45. Throwing close to my PBs.

"I think if we keep doing that, it's going to show up in Paris and we'll get a high score as well."

WATCH | LePage captures historic decathlon title in Budapest:

The world title win is now starting to set in for LePage, who reached the goal of 8,900 points he set for worlds in an interview he did following his Hypo Meeting victory in late May.

"I feel like it's creeping in a little more and more," he said. "I guess what I actually did, where it's