The last time most sports fans saw Damian Warner, the Canadian decathlete was describing how his worst nightmare had come true at the Paris Olympic Games.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion was sitting in second place after six events but fell out of contention when he failed to clear the bar on all his three attempts in the pole vault.
Eight months after withdrawing from that competition, Warner says he’s turned the page on Paris, but hasn’t forgotten its lessons.
“I feel like one of the important things about being a track athlete is having a short term memory,” Warner said in a recent interview before his summer season begins. “When you have failures or things don’t go your way, you have to be able to stew in that moment and just kind of be upset at yourself and kind of draw as much as you can from that performance to be better.”
But if he wanted to continue to be at the top of his sport, Warner says he needed to let it go.
“So, I’ve moved on. I’ve tried to learn as much as I can from that situation, and now we have a new season ahead with a new goal, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
That new season has two key decathlons circled, starting with the Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria, on May 31. Warner will then turn his attention toward September’s world championships in Tokyo.
WATCH | Emotional Damian Warner speaks after pulling out of the Olympics:
Olympic champion Damian Warner recounts the moment he withdrew from the men’s decathlon competition after knocking down the bar on all three attempts in the pole vault.
Helping him put Paris 2024 in the rearview mirror was a new addition to his family not long after returning from the Summer Games. Warner and his partner, Jen Cotten, welcomed daughter Olivia into the world, joining big brother Theo, who’s now four years old.
“You could be all upset about the competition, and you come home and you have the most beautiful thing that you’ve ever seen, right? And then from there, you just kind of [find that] life takes over and you move on,” Warner said.
“And Paris isn’t something that crosses your mind on a day-to-day basis. It’s cleaning up toys and playing with Lego and trying not to step on Lego and all that crazy stuff.”
Training camps and competitions can take Warner away from home and his family for weeks at a time. He says it’s impossible to be the world’s best dad while also being the world’s best decathlete, but his number one priority is clear.
“You go to the track and you kind of exhaust yourself, and then you come home and kids want to jump and climb all over you. But I try to make sure I have the energy because that’s the priority of my life — my kids. And track comes second after that,” he said.
“Right now, I’ve struck a good balance. I have really good people in my life where I’m able to be the best athlete that I could be on the track, but also at the same time be a really good dad.”
Warner’s preparation for this season is already underway, although it’s already taken him to warmer climes than his home base in London, Ont. He just returned from a training camp in San Diego with Athletics Canada, where he saw improvements in every performance compared to his Paris results.
“So at this point of the season, I’m in really good shape, [it’s] just a matter of staying healthy, staying on track. And then I think we’ll be in really good shape when it comes time to compete [at the world championships].”
That competition in Tokyo in September is what all of this year’s training and preparation will be building toward for Warner. World championship gold is the one prize that has so far eluded him over an impressive 15-year career in decathlon. A four-time medallist at worlds, Warner most recently won silver at the 2023 edition, behind fellow Canadian Pierce LePage.
While Warner isn’t putting any special emphasis on winning this year’s event, he’s conscious of its importance.
“I kind of just look at it as another normal competition,” he says. “As a decathlete, I only get to compete in my event maybe two to three times, max, per year. So every single competition that I do means a lot. When I go into this competition, I just want to be at my best and let the cards fall where they may.
“The world championships obviously has a little bit more weight, because it’s the one thing that’s kind of been elusive in my career. But at the same time, I feel like I have all the tools in my toolbelt to be able to achieve that. It’s just a matter of doing it on those two days of competition.”
But before Warner heads to Tokyo, he’ll be in Austria looking for his record-extending ninth Hypo-Meeting title.
“I’ve just had an amazing time every single time that I’ve gone [to Götzis], and it’s one of those things where I’m going to do that event every single year that I can, for the rest of my career,” Warner says.
Now that he’s 35, Warner has admitted that he’s closer to the end than the beginning of his career. He plans to evaluate how long he wants to keep competing on a year-by-year basis, a decision he came to thanks to a little advice from one of his sports heroes.
“I remember having a conversation with Vince Carter, who was one of my idols, a long time ago. I asked him ‘when do you think you’re going to hang it up?’ And he told me ‘when I’m not enjoying it anymore.’
“I think that I’ve taken that same philosophy. I still love the sport. I’m still willing to invest all the time and the energy and the hard work that is required to perform well. At the same time, that moment where I’m having to second guess going to the track and I’m not quite enjoying it anymore, that’s when I’m going to hang it up.
“But that moment is not right now.”
WATCH | Warner eyeing elusive world championship title in Tokyo:
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion in decathlon, sits down with host Brittany MacLean ahead of the upcoming athletics season.
What keeps Warner coming back each year is a relentless drive to be the best in the world — and being hooked on competing in decathlon.
“It’s like trying to do a really, really hard puzzle. You kind of get addicted to that puzzle itself.”
The world championships are a puzzle Warner would love to solve — not only to seize the one outstanding prize in a well-decorated career, but because it represents a do-over of sorts. Warner is no longer stewing on his Olympic disappointment, he wants to use it to fuel his next success.
“I just hope that I can go out this year and put in the performance that I was hoping to have in Paris, in Tokyo.”
WATCH | Warner builds the ultimate Canadian decathlete:
Damian Warner selects his all-time list of past and present Canadian track and field stars to build the ultimate decathlete.
