Damian Warner writes himself into history books with men's decathlon win

Damian Warner has become Canada's first Olympic champion in the men's decathlon, finishing with an Olympic Record of 9,018 points at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

He becomes just the fourth decathlete in history to break the 9,000 point mark.

"I have a lot of confidence in myself. And in Rio 2016, when I finished third, while I was happy to be on the podium I was also disappointed that I didn't get on top," Warner said.

"So I used that experience from 2016 to accomplish the performance that I've had over the last two days. It paid off, and I couldn't be happier for myself, my team and everybody that's supported me this whole time.

"When I was in grade 6 I wrote in a school project that I'd be in the Olympics one day, and who would have known that I would be an Olympic gold medallist."

World record holder Kevin Mayer of France took silver with 8,726 points - the same as he did in Rio - with Ashley Moloney clinching bronze in an Australian Record of 8,649 points.

It had been two tough and long days of competition at the Olympic Stadium, starting off with two track events (100m and 400m) and three field events (long jump, shot put and high jump) on Wednesday before the 110m hurdles and three more field events (discus throw, pole vault and javelin throw) today.

Warner, a three-time Olympian, had entered the 10th and final event of the decathlon - the 1,500m - in first place. Actually, the 31-year-old had never dropped from first place in the standings since competition begun.

Ahead of the 1,500m race, Mayer had lifted himself from fifth to the silver medal position after a strong performances on day 2 especially in the javelin throw - finishing second overall with a 73.09m throw. While Moloney along with USA's Garrett Scantling and Canada's Pierce Lepage were all still in medal contention.

With calculations being down across the board on just who could finish the medal, Warner made sure to put it beyond doubt with a fifth place finish (4:31.08) in the 1,500m.

"I had a gameplan on where I needed to be, and when I came around at 1,200m I was three seconds off the pace," the two-time Pan American gold medallist said.

"I was like, 'if I'm going to get this 9,000 points I have to go now', and I gave it everything I had. It wasn't pretty but we got the job done."

As the points were revealed on the big screens at the Olympic Stadium, Warner broke out into a cheer and smile knowing he'd become the Olympic champion.