Olympic gold medalist Damian Warner is a Canadian decathlete who specializes in the 110 metre hurdles, long jump and 1500 metre events. He was the decathlon champion at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Warner’s first senior international medal came at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where he won silver behind teammate Michael Smith. Warner went on to win gold at the 2015 Pan American Games with a score of 8634 points, before winning his first world championship medal with bronze at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. In 2016, Warner won the Olympic silver medal in the decathlon with a total of 8654 points, behind American Ashton Eaton. He followed that up with a gold medal at the 2017 Summer Universiade. In addition to his decathlon success, Warner has also won medals in individual hurdles and long jump events. He has set Canadian records in both the 110 metre hurdles (12.80 seconds) and the indoor 60 metre hurdles (7.49 seconds).
Warner’s consistent results have made him one of the most successful Canadian decathletes in history. His Olympic silver medal was Canada’s first medal in the decathlon since Ben Johnson won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and he is only the second Canadian to win a world championship medal in the event, after Johnson’s bronze at the 1987 World Championships. Warner is also one of only four Canadians to ever break the 8000 point barrier in the decathlon, and his Canadian record of 8731 points is the second highest score ever achieved by a North American decathlete, behind only Eaton’s world record of 9039 points.
