Canadian decathletes Warner, LePage sit 7th, 11th at midway point of Hypo Meeting
If the streak of Canadian title wins at the Hypo Meeting decathlon is going to continue, Canadians Damian Warner and Pierce LePage have their work cut out for them on Day 2 of the competition.
Warner, of London, Ont., sits in seventh place while and LePage, of Whitby, Ont., is in 11th at the midway point of the event in Götzis, Austria.
Warner is the defending champ and an eight-time Hypo Meeting winner. The 35-year-old compiled a total of 4424 points from five events on Saturday. He sits 228 points back of leader Ayden Owens Delerme (4652) of Puerto Rico.
LePage, who won the event in 2023 but is coming off of off-season back surgery, has a total of 4315 points.
The Hypo Meeting is the biggest multi-event competition in the world, outside of the Olympic Games and world championships. It's considered a measuring stick for decathletes as they prepare for the world championships later this summer in Tokyo.
Saturday's meet kicked off with the 100-metre sprint where Warner had the second-fastest time out of all competitors, finishing in 10.39 seconds. That result garnered him 1,001 points. LePage was 19th overall in the 100 with a time of 10.70, for a total of 929 points in the opening event.
The next event was the long jump, where Warner posted a best jump of 7.51m for 937 points while LePage's 7.42m effort got him 915 points.
The third event was the shot put, where LePage was awarded 806 points for a throw of 15.26m. Warner's top throw of 14.41m netted him 753 points.
LePage cleared 2.03m in the high jump to take 831 points, topping Warner's mark of 2.00m and 803 points.
Saturday's final event was the 400m, where Warner (47.57) bested LePage (49.59) in their heat. Warned picked up 930 points while LePage took 834.
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