Olympic champ Warner out to prove point by winning elusive world decathlon title

Damian Warner is returning to the world championship stage with a point to prove.

The reigning Olympic champion from London, Ontario, sustained a hamstring injury while leading after four events in the decathlon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. While difficult to enter the off-season on a "sour note," Warner was intent on proving himself again.

"I kind of had a task to deal with — rehabbing my hamstring, I was doing a lot of physio, doing some strength training … so I had a process which kind of distracted me a little bit," he said. "But then I also feel like I have something to prove.

"So when I got back into training, my goals that I had set for myself still stand. I'm still excited about this sport, dedicated to this sport … thankfully for me, it seems that hamstring stuff is a thing of the past and training's been going fairly well leading up to these world championships."

The goals in mind?

"Being able to win a world championship gold medal, go back to the Olympics and defend my title," he said. "I believe one day, if all the stars align then I can break the world record."

Warner enters this year's worlds as the third-ranked men's decathlete behind defending world champion and world-record holder Kevin Mayer of France and last year's world silver medallist and top-ranked Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont.

Having won bronze in 2019 and silver in 2015, a world decathlon gold is all that's eluded Warner's decorated resume.

"I think it would mean a lot (to win it)," Warner said. "First of all, it would be a lot of momentum going into the Olympic year, it would put me back to where I feel like I built myself up to the last couple of years before I hurt my hamstring.

"But at the same time, it would accomplish the one thing that I've been missing in this sport. I've got a (world) indoor title, I've got a Canadian title, I've got an Olympic title, so I've been missing the outdoor world."

The worlds run from Saturday to Aug. 27 in Budapest, Hungary. The 10 events making up the men's decathlon will happen between Aug. 25 and Aug. 26.

Warner's return and first test of the season came at the Hypo Meeting in May in Gotzis, Austria. Having won the event six straight times and a record seven overall, Warner lost his lead to LePage on the final day and finished second.

Warner entered the competition dealing with a flare up in his hip, stemming from a fall he took in a 110-metre hurdles race in April.

"Leading up to Gotzis was a weird circumstance," he said. "Usually when I'm going into Gotzis, I feel good, I feel ready to compete.

"This was the first time where I just wasn't able to do the training I normally would. So there was some doubts and stuff in my mind and some pain in my hip.

"I had a torn labrum in my hip but we got a little injection to deal with that and it seems to be a thing of the past and it hasn't really bothered me since."

The issue, however, doesn't seem to be a new one.

"When I spoke to the surgeon, he believes that I tore my labrum probably a long time ago," Warner said. "But he says that some people are compensators.

"But when I fell in the hurdles … it caused some inflammation and some pain and it caused some problems in that area. We put some local freezing and stuff in there and it seemed to work. I trust the doctors and their prognosis of the situation and it seems to be going just as they said."

Warner, however, gave LePage his due for the Hypo Meeting win and being "an incredible athlete (and) incredible competitor," and also mentioning that he was going to lose at some point in time.

But the 33-year-old is confident in his ability to reign supreme at worlds.

"There's no reason for us (Warner, his coaches, people around him) to believe at this point in time that any of these goals that we have for ourselves are unrealistic," Warner said.

"I think that gives (me) a lot of confidence."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2023.