Canadian decathlete Damian Warner had an explosive start to his competition: setting an Olympic record in the decathlon’s 100-metre competition.
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Ashton Eaton is looking to win his second straight gold medal in the decathlon at the Olympics, and he’s looking strong so far in his efforts.
Eaton amassed 4,621 points from Wednesday’s opening day of action.
Eaton, however, remains the overwhelming favourite, unbeaten in combined events competition since the 2011 world championships in Daegu.
In the long jump, the native of London, Ont., leaped 7.67 metres to collect 977 points.
Eaton holds the world record at 9,045 points, set past year at the World Championships in Beijing.
However, after three events, Warner was in a solid second place behind Eaton, the reigning Olympic champion.
In his Olympic debut, Matt Hughes of Oshawa, Ont., finished 12th of 13 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.
“It’s hard to describe”, Eaton said after he finished the 1,500 meter race to close out the decathlon. It was during that summer that she won the world title, ahead of Australia’s Pearson and Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter. Again, tape-delayed coverage is set for NBC between 8 p.m. and midnight.
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 previous year.
Eaton runs on to the world’s biggest stage just a few days after his wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, stood on the Olympic podium.
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France’s Kevin Mayer led the shot put with a 15.76m throw, leaving him in fourth at the day’s end, with American Jeremy Taiwo in fifth overall thanks to the best high jump performance, clearing 2.19m.
