LePage wins decathlon silver at worlds after Warner’s injury

EUGENE, Ore.—Canada’s Pierce LePage crossed the end line within the ultimate occasion of the decathlon, the dreaded 1,500 metres, and collapsed on the grass infield figuring out he had simply gained a medal on the world observe and area championships.

The 26-year-old from Whitby, who completed fifth eventually summer season’s Tokyo Olympics, pulled out a collection of non-public bests over two days to win silver with 8,701 factors.

France’s world-record holder Kevin Mayer gained gold with 8,816 factors, and American Zachery Ziemek took bronze in 8,676.

LePage wasn’t the Canadian most individuals anticipated to see win a medal right here. That may have been LePage’s idol: Olympic champion Damian Warner. However the fifth occasion on the finish of day one, the 400 metres, was a second of heartbreak and triumph for Canada’s decathletes.

Warner, within the lead and trying to shut out the primary day with a quick lap across the observe, pulled up with a hamstring harm. He tumbled from first to twenty first and didn’t begin day two.

That exact same race is the place LePage made his transfer from fifth to the rostrum — second general with a personal-best 400-metre run of 46.84 seconds. However the decathlon is 10 occasions over two gruelling days, so the 26-year-old knew a podium end was removed from a completed deal.

“My coach all the time says the decathlon begins on the second day,” LePage mentioned Saturday night time. “So I’m prepared to point out that I’m a decathlete.”

He did that with gusto on Sunday. He began off by delivering two extra private bests. He gained the 110-metre hurdles in 13.78 seconds, narrowing the hole within the standings, then moved into first by pulling out his best-ever throw in discus.

After a two-hour pole vault competitors he was nonetheless within the lead, however fell to second behind Mayer after the javelin.

The 1,500 metres is not any decathlete’s favorite. It’s the one endurance occasion over two days that reward pace, pop and energy. LePage knew he couldn’t catch Mayer and shadowed Ziemek, who was simply 11 factors again in third, to carry on to a silver medal.

LePage’s medal at Hayward Discipline introduced Canada’s complete to 4 on the worlds: gold, two silvers and a bronze. Camryn Rogers began it off every week in the past with silver within the girls’s hammer throw. Marco Arop gained bronze within the males’s 800 metres Saturday night time, adopted by gold for the lads’s 4×100-metre relay crew.

SHARE: