Olympic champion Damian Warner withdraws from decathlon after pole vault disaster

A "devastated" Damian Warner withdrew from the Olympic men's decathlon competition on Saturday. 

The 34-year-old from London, Ont., fell out of medal contention at the tail end of Saturday's morning session after he knocked the bar down on all three attempts in the pole vault.

The Canadian Olympic Committee made the announcement Saturday evening saying, "understandably, Damian and his team are devastated."

Warner was sitting in second with 6,428 points, 72 behind Germany's Leo Neugebauer, after seven events. After missing on his vault attempts, he dropped to 18th with two events to go.

WATCH | Warner's no height in pole vault ends decathlon medal hopes:

Breaking down Damian Warner's pole vault struggles in the decathlon

4 months ago

Duration 2:55

Michael Smith and Mark Lee examine the performance of Canadian decathlete Damian Warner during the pole vault which put him out of medal contention at Paris 2024.

Warner was defending his title from the Tokyo Games in 2021 where he had set an Olympic record with 9,018 points.

Markus Rooth of Norway took the Olympic crown, capturing gold with 8,796 points. Neugebauer (8,748) won silver and Lindon Victor of Grenada (8,711) claimed bronze.

Warner, who did not stick around to talk to reporters Saturday, was looking to join American Bob Mathias (1948, 1952), Great Britain's Daley Thompson (1980, 1984) and American Ashton Eaton (2012, 2016) as the only two-time Olympic gold medallists in the men's decathlon.

Norway's Skotheim Sander also failed to register a successful vault after entering the event in third place.

WATCH | Breaking down Warner's no-height in pole vault:

Damian Warner's no height in pole vault ends hopes for Olympic decathlon medal

4 months ago

Duration 0:57

Canadian Damian Warner's hopes to repeat as Olympic decathlon champion are over after knocking the bar down on all three attempts at 4.60 metres in the pole vault to fall out of medal contention.