Canadian Damian Warner leads after 1st decathlon event at World Athletics Championships

Olympic champion Damian Warner has started his pursuit of claiming his first world decathlon title by posting the fastest time in the 100-metres – exactly how he started in Tokyo one year ago. 

On a chilly Saturday morning in Eugene,  Ore., overcast and 16 C, the 32-year-old from London, Ont. powered his way to a time of 10.27 seconds. That puts the Canadian on top with 1030 points.

Warner is the oldest competitor in the world athletics championship field – that was also the case when he made history at the Olympics last summer. 

Pierce LePage, who finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, ran the second-fastest 100m in a time of 10.39. That puts him in second place behind Warner with 1001 points. The 26-year-old from Whitby, Ont., also finished fifth at the last world championships in Doha.

WATCH | What makes Damian Warner so good?

Warner made history last summer in Tokyo, becoming just the fourth person in history to post a score of more than 9,000 points when he set an Olympic record to claim gold. In March, he followed that up with a world indoor heptathlon gold medal.

Warner, however, has never won a world championship decathlon gold, finishing third twice and second once. The motivation for Warner now is not only winning gold in Eugene, but breaking Kevin Mayer's world-record score of 9,126 in the process.

Mayer, from France, earned 947 to begin by running the 100m in a time of 10.62. 

You can watch all the action from the decathlon on CBCSports.ca and on CBC Gem. The long jump begins on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. ET, followed by the shotput (3:10 p.m. ET), high jump (7:10 p.m.) and 400m (9:55 p.m. ET).

Action from Day 2 of the event begins on Sunday at 12:35 p.m. ET with the 110m hurdles.

WATCH | What motivates Damian