Meet Damian Warner, the reigning Olympic decathlon champion who is setting the stage alight in Paris

Defending champion Damian Warner has been in good touch at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He made a fantastic start in the men's decathlon, clocking the fastest 100m time (10.25) in the field.

Warner is the only decathlete at the Summer Games who was born in the 1980s. At the age of 34, he remains timeless and excellent and put in a performance in Stade de France that gave him 1,035 points.

The Candian, who won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, was in equally good touch at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He had the lead from start to finish and reigned supreme in the grueling 10-event athletics event with a record-breaking performance.

He scored 9,018 points in the Japanese capital, setting an event record in one of the oldest events at the Olympics. The decathlon is widely considered the most difficult event at the Summer Games, with athletes competing in shot put, pole vault, high jump, javelin, discus, and long jump, along with four running races.

Warner is also a four-time World medallist (silver in 2015 and 2023, bronze in 2013 and 2019) and the two-time (2015 and 2019) reigning Pan American champion. The Ontario native also holds the Pan Am Games record and the Canadian record for the decathlon.

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Damian Warner: "My drive to succeed in the sport is higher than it’s ever been"

Damian Warner at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Hungary- Getty Images

Damian Warner was rewarded for his consistent performances over the years, including gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games, by becoming Canada's flag bearer in the closing ceremony in Japan.

At the ongoing Summer Games in Paris, the fourth edition he is taking part in, Warner is the elder statesman and the man everyone else is looking to beat. He doesn't pay attention to any outside pressure, however, and is staying focused on what he has to do.

“Only the pressure that I put on myself. It’s important to me and something that I believe that I can do. But I’m not attuned to any outside pressure,” he said. (via The Globe and Mail)

One of the defending Olympic champion's biggest competitors recently has been Pierce LePage. Warner credited his compatriot for motivating him to work harder.

“His success has kind of made me be like ‘okay, let’s keep doing this.’ “My drive to succeed in the sport is higher than it’s ever been, and I probably owe a lot of that to Pierce and his emergence in the sport,” he added

Reigning world champ LePage, sadly, pulled out of the Paris Games after sustaining a surgery-requiring herniated disc a few months ago.