For the eighth time in his career, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Damian Warner of London, Ontario has won the Hypo Meeting decathlon event in Gotzis, Austria. Considered one of the most prestigious decathlon events in the entire world, Warner had a season best 8678 points. He won the gold medal for Canada in the men’s decathlon at the 2020 Olympic Games in Paris in 2021.
Warner reached the podium by 311 points. Ashley Moloney of Australia finished in fourth place with 8367 points. Sven Roosen of the Netherlands won the silver medal with 8517 points and Johannes Erm of Estonia won the bronze medal with 8462 points.
Warner previously won the Hypo Meeting in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. He is one of three Canadians to win the Hypo Meeting. The other two are Michael Smith of Kenora, Ontario and Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ontario. Smith won in 1991 and 1996, and LePage won in 2023.
The biggest question of the event is why LePage did not participate. No reason for his absence was given. In addition to winning the 2023 Hypo Meeting, LePage won the gold medal in the men’s decathlon at the 2023 International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics Championship in Budapest.
Warner had the fastest 100 metre time this weekend in Gotzis of 10.2 seconds. He had the third fastest time of 47.46 seconds in the men’s 400 metres, the highest jump of 2.03 metres, the third longest jump of 7.8 metres, the 11th longest shot put of 14.55 metres, the eighth fastest 1500 metre run of 4:36.94, the fastest 100 metre hurdle time of 13.45 seconds, the seventh best pole vault of 4.8 metres, the second best discus throw of 46.41 metres, and the seventh best javelin throw of 57.53 metres.
