Damian Warner 3rd in decathlon midway through competition
Defending champion Ashton Eaton in comfortable lead
By Doug Harrison and Nick Murray, CBC Sports
Canadian Damian Warner had a strong showing in the first day of the men's decathlon, sitting in third place overall through five events and setting an Olympic record in the process.
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- WATCH: Damian Warner finishes third in the men's 400m decathlon race
Warner capped the day in Rio by finishing third in the 400-metre race, and sits behind defending champion Ashton Eaton of the U.S., and German Kai Kazmirek.
The Canadian ran a 47.35 in the 400, finishing third in his heat to Eaton (46.07) and Kazmirek (46.75).
Warner, the 2015 world silver medallist, is attempting to become only the second Canadian to reach the Olympic podium in decathlon — after Dave Steen won bronze in 1988.
He's tallied 4,489 points through the five events, and trails Eaton by 132 points going into Day 2, after the American won the 400m and long jump events.
In comparison, Warner had 4,530 points at last year's world championships midway through the competition.
"You never know what's going to happen in the decathlon," Warner said. "I just gotta do my part to just fight to the end and see what happens."
Warner set the tone early in the competition by establishing an Olympic-best time of 10.30 seconds in the 100, besting Eaton by 0.16 seconds in their heat.
The London, Ont., native, whose personal best in the 100 is 10.15, earned 1,023 points for the victory in the 100 while Eaton, who is married to Canadian heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, recorded 985.
In the long jump Warner leaped 7.67 metres to collect 977 points. Warner jumped 7.65 at last year's world championships and set a personal best of 8.04 this past spring.
Warner ended a sunny and warm morning session with shot put. It's not a great event for the six-foot-one, 183-pounder — specialists in the event have at least 100 pounds on him — and it showed.
Warner's furthest put was 13.66 metres on his third and final attempt throwing the 16-pound ball, more than a metre short of his season and personal best of 14.74.
In the high jump Warner tied for 10th, jumping 2.04 metres, which closed the gap on Eaton and put the Canadian in second place going into the final event of the day.
But Kazmirek leapfrogged Warner after the 400, as the Canadian is sitting 11 points back of the silver-medal spot.
"The run was okay. Not great. I have to just come out, keep competing, and the results will come if I do that," Warner said.
'Ashton is just a little bit ahead of the curve'
Warner, who broke Michael Smith's 19-year-old Canadian decathlon record of 8,626 with 8,659 points last summer en route to winning a gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, has struggled in recent seasons to clear his mind between events and ahead of the Olympics was working with Montreal performance psychologist Jean Francois Menard.
Prior to the afternoon session, Warner told the Toronto Star he plans to either read, watch movies on his iPad or draw "to allow himself to calm down and not really think about what's coming up next."
Les Gramantik, who spent time this season working with Warner, told the newspaper recently that "the only person who can beat Ashton is Ashton.
"Ashton is just a little bit ahead of the curve. There are a couple of vulnerable spots for both of them, but not as much for Ashton."
The decathlon concludes Thursday, starting at 8:30 a.m. ET with the 110 hurdles, followed by the discus throw (9:25 p.m.), pole vault (12:25 p.m.), javelin throw (5:35 p.m.) and 1,500 (8:45 p.m.).
Americans sweep podium in women's 100m hurdles
U.S. hurdlers Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin made history in the 100-metre hurdles, sweeping the podium in the veent for the first time in Olympic history.
Rollins won in 12.48 seconds with Ali earning silver in 12.59 and Castlin coming in two hundredths of a second behind.
Canadian Phylicia George made the final after coming second in her semifinal heat, but stumbled out of the gate and finished eighth in the final in 12.89.
Jamaica's Thompson wins 2nd gold of Rio 2016
Jamaica's Elaine Thompson completed a memorable sprint double on Wednesday after storming to victory in the women's 200m final, blowing away the field with a season's best run of 21.78 seconds.
The 24-year-old 100m champion beat pre-race favourite Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands, who ran her fastest time of the season in the final but had to settle for silver.
Schippers, world 200m champion, picked up a leg muscle injury ahead of the 100m final last week and said she almost pulled out of the Games.
After winning the 100m final Thompson said she was surprised by her victory but she appeared in complete control after a brilliant start that helped her surge ahead of the field after the bend.
American Tori Bowie, who won a silver medal in the 100m final, grabbed bronze. Ahead of the final, Bowie was the only woman other than Schippers to have run a sub-22 second race over 200m this year.
American Bartoletta lands long jump gold
Tianna Bartoletta of the United States leapt a personal best of 7.17m to claim gold in the women's long jump.
Her American team mate and defending Olympic champion Brittney Reese battled it out with Serbia's Ivana Spanovic for second place, ultimately taking silver with a jump measuring 7.15 on her last attempt.
Spanovic went home with bronze after setting a national record of 7.08.
Russia's Darya Klishina, the country's only track and field athlete in Rio, finished ninth after failing to make a mark beyond 6.63.
Men's 3,000 steeplechase final
In his Olympic debut, Matt Hughes of Oshawa, Ont., finished 11th of 12 runners in eight minutes 36.83 seconds, more than 10 seconds slower than his qualifying time (8;26.27) and well back of his season-best 8:20.63 at the Hoka One One Middle Distance Classic in May.
The 27-year-old, who said in July he would be "disappointed if I didn't finish in the top five," began the race at the back of the pack and didn't emerge from that position until the 4:32 mark.
Conseslus Kipruto, the 21-year-old from Kenya, won the gold in an Olympic record 8:03.28, followed by American Evan Jager (8:04.28). Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi (8:08.47) finished third, but was disqualified for stepping off the track, handing the bronze medal to France's Mahiedine Mekhissi.
Right after the race, Kemboi announced he was retiring, before learning he was being stripped of his bronze medal. Mekhissi made an official protest after learning Kemboi stepped off the track.
Women's 800
Melissa Bishop, who hails from Eganville, Ont., qualified with the best time in 1:58.38, less than one second shy of her winning time (1:57.43) at the Canadian Olympic trials in July that broke the 27-year-old's national mark of 1:57.52, set at the 2015 worlds.
The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday at 8:45 p.m. ET.
Men's 5,000
Mo Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont., qualified sixth for Saturday's final at 8:30 p.m. ET with a time of 13 minutes 21.00 seconds.
Ahmed, 25, has been thinking about making the Rio Olympic team since he stepped off the 10,000m track at the 2012 London Games, where he was 18th in the final.
In May, Ahmed clocked 13:01.74 at the Prefontaine Classic in Portland, Oregon to shatter his Canadian record of 13:10.00, set in Brussels last year.
Vancouver's Lucas Bruchet didn't qualify Wednesday, placing 30th of 50 runners in 14:02.02.
With files from Reuters