Warner frustrated after decathlon woes
LONDON — Damian Warner’s dreams of a world decathlon title may have been dashed by a unsparing stomach bug before he even stepped onto the London Stadium track for his first event.
And in the moments after his heartbreaking fifth-place finish at the world track and field championships — 10 events over two disappointing days later — 27-yearold Warner, from London, Ont., lamented the week that got away.
“It’s really frustrating because next year there’s no world championships,” Warner said. “These are the guys that I want to compete against. These are the guys that I want to beat. I’m not going to see those guys at a world championships until two years from now.”
Those guys are Kevin Mayer of France, the world champion with 8,768 points, Germany’s Rico Freimuth who claimed silver with 8,564, and Kai Kazmirek of Germany, who took bronze with 8,488.
Warner, who was only a day out of quarantine when he began the event, scored 8,309 points, unable to dig himself out of a hole after his first three sub-par events — the 100 metres, long jump and shot put.
“Just those first three events were really tough,” he said.
“Motivation-wise, a lot of stuff was tough. Especially the second day. Usually going into the 1,500 [the final event], you have all these nerves, and you have a goal, catch this person, or don’t let this person pass you. Today was like ‘just finish.’ That was the goal today and I just tried my best to go out there and finish strong.
“There’s some positives to take away. But they’re just really hard to find right now.”
With one day remaining, Warner’s fifth was the best result for a Canadian team battered by one mishap after another.
Warner won bronze at the 2013 world championships and silver two years ago in Beijing behind American Ashton Eaton. After dominating the decathlon for years, Eaton announced his retirement in January, vacating the top spot on the podium. Warner had a decent shot of claiming it in London. Instead, he missed a major international podium for the first time since the 2012 Olympics, where he was also fifth in the same London stadium.
The men’s 5,000 was the day’s highlight for Canada with two Canadians competing for the first time in history. Mohammed Ahmed was sixth, while 21-yearold Justyn Knight was ninth.
Canada’s men’s 4x100-metre relay, missing its injured star Andre De Grasse, finished sixth.
In the 5,000, Ahmed stuck with a lead group that featured British star Mo Farah in his final race, for all but the final lap. The 26-yearold from St. Catharines, Ont., who was fourth in the event in Rio, finished in 13 minutes 35.43 seconds.
“I felt pretty good, I was gathering myself for that last 400 metres, I was in position with 400 metres to go, and I just didn’t have enough,” Ahmed said. “They just hit another top gear that I didn’t have, and I couldn’t hang.”
Ahmed, born in Mogadishu, Somalia, had raced to eighth in the 10,000 metres last week. Both finishes are Canadian bests. But not good enough for Ahmed.
“I have aspirations to be on the podium, winning it,” he said. “That’s the frustrating part, is not being close enough.”
Toronto’s Knight finished in 13:39.15, and the young runner was one of the few Canadians smiling on Saturday, calling the race a “huge learning experience.”
Knight appreciated the historical significance of being in Farah’s last world race.
“As soon as the race was over, and I was on top of the stands doing the media, I took a second to observe and I saw [Farah] doing his victory lap and crowd was going crazy,” Knight said. “It was just something really special.”
Farah had to settle for silver after Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris edged him out for gold crossing in 13:32.79. Farah crossed in 13:33.22.
In a 4x100 punctuated by Jamaican star Usain Bolt pulling up with a hamstring cramp in a dramatic final leg, Canada’s team of Gavin Smellie, Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Mobolade Ajomale finished in 38.59. Great Britain took the gold, the U.S. was second and Japan third.