Canada’s Damian Warner has joined an elite group of men with 9,000+ points in the decathlon. That rollcall: world-record holder Kevin Mayer (9126, Tokyo silver medallist), Ashton Eaton (9045) and Roman Sebrle (9026)—the first to do it back in 2001. Warner’s mark of 9018 becomes an Olympic record.
Warner demonstrated his dominance right from the start, setting down field-leading marks in the 100m and long jump, for which he was just shy of his world decathlon best with 8.24m (best = 8.28m).
The battle for bronze came down to the final event, with Australia’s Ash Moloney claiming the prize with an elated “f*ck yeah” when the result came up on the board. The under-20 world champion is also his country’s first-ever medal in the event and he just about edged USA’s Garrett Scantling.