Canadian Damian Warner, reigning Olympic champion in the decathlon, got off to a good start in his quest for a first title at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.

Warner leads the field with a cumulative score of 3696 points. He holds a 65-point priority over his closest pursuer, American Zachery Ziemek.

The other representative of the maple leaf competing in this competition presented in the western United States, Pierce Lepage (3,519 points), fell to sixth place, despite the fact that he gave the second best time of the 100 meter race.

It was Warner who dominated this race with a time of 10.27 seconds. He was also the one who scored the most points in the long jump, thanks to a distance of 7.87 meters.

The 32-year-old Ontarian couldn't extend his lead as much as he would have liked in the shot put and high jump events, but his consistency still allowed him to protect his first place.

The last five events of the decathlon will take place on Sunday.

Arop frame in bronze

The 23-year-old Canadian athlete Marco Arop won the bronze medal in the 800 meters event.

Arop, who had failed to qualify for the Olympic final in Tokyo over this distance, almost lost his footing early in the race, but recovered nicely by posting a time of 1 min 44.28 s.

Kenyan Emmanuel Kipkuri Korir climbed to the top step of the podium, closely followed by Algerian Djamel Sedjati.

Arop qualified for the 800 meters final after finishing second in his semifinal heat on Thursday.

In addition, Canadian Brandon McBride, who crashed in qualifying, announced on Instagram that he had broken his foot.