As the decathlon began, it was defending Olympic champion Ashton Eaton who emerged as the leader at the halfway point at the Rio Olympics.
Warner breaks Eaton's Olympic record in 100 meters to take the early lead
One of Eaton's top challengers to his declathon crown is Canadian Damian Warner and he won the 100 meters in Olympic record time of 10.30, bettering Eaton's mark of 10.35 set in London four years ago. Warner also ran 10.15 at Gotzis earlier this year, so his win isn't at all surprising. Nevertheless, the last time Eaton didn't lead a combined events competition after the first event was at the 2009 IAAF Championships at Berlin. Other notable times were American Zach Ziemek at 10.71, Germany's world bronze medalist Rico Freimuth with a 10.73 and season's bests from Algeria's Latbi Bourrada and silver medalist Oleksiy Kasyanov with 10.75 and 10.78, respectively. Also of note was 2014 European silver medalist Kevin Mayer, registering a personal best of 10.81. Warner held a 38 point lead over Eaton heading to the long jump.
Eaton wins the long jump to take the lead from Warner
The defending Olympic champion needed a quick response and he got it with two outstanding jumps, the first measuring at 7.90 meters, the second an even better 7.94 metres. Warner, who was four tenths better than Eaton, finished third with a best jump of 7.67 metres. Kai Kazmirek of Germany set a personal best with 7.69 metres, increasing his chances of a medal. Thomas van der Plaetsen, the European champion from Belgium, moved up from 29th to 13th with a season's best of 7.66 metres. Eaton led Warner by 30 points as the competitors headed to the next event, the shot put.
Mayer takes the shot put to creep up right behind Warner for second
Eaton's lead in the decathon when he produced two excellent throws of 14.72 and 14.73 metres, his best marks at an outdoor global competition. Warner struggled, with a meager 13.66 metres while Mayer, with an outdoor personal best of 15.76 metres, now was well-positioned right behind Warner. The home fans were delighted when Luiz Alberto de Araujo recorded the third best throw of the day at 15.26 metres, moving him up to fourth. Kazmarek was keeping himself in the medal chase with a 14.20 metre throw to place fifth. Only two other men had throws of over 15 feet: Bastien Auzeil of France at 15.41 metres and Adam Sebastian Helcelet at 15.11 metres. Eaton now lead Warner by 95 points, but the Canadian's hold on second is only nine points on Mayer going to the high jump.
Taiwo rockets into third after taking the high jump
A new contender emerged as Eaton's teammate, Jeremy Taiwo, topped the field in the high jump. His clearance of 2.19 metres moved him up to third in the overall standings. Eaton, meanwhile struggled to clear 1.92 metres, needing all three jumps to do so while both Warner and Mayer were able to go over at 2.04 metres. Van der Plaetsen was second behind Taiwo with a jump of 2.16 metres while Cedric Dubler of Australia and Maicel Uibo cleared 2.13 metres. Uibo recorded three no-throws in the shot put, but continued on. Eaton still led, but his advantage was reduced to 68 points over Warner with Taiwo just 69 points out of first and a mere one point behind second as the competitors prepared for the final event of the day, the 400 metres.
Eaton sprints past the field in the 400 meters to widen lead heading into the second day
Needing a huge finish to boost his lead heading into Thursday, Eaton clocked a 46.07, more than a second faster than his time in London. Kazmirek equalled a personal best from 2011 at a time of 46.75, which moved him into second place overall. Warner ran a fine 47.35 to drop down to third overall. Mayer's dream continued, another personal best, this one at 48.38, almost four-tenths lower than his prior personal best. Heading into day two, Eaton leads with 4,621 points. Kazmirek is in second with 4,500 points followed by Warner with 4,489 points in third, Mayer fourth with 4,435 points, on course to set a personal best point total followed by Taiwo with 4,419 points. The American is looking strong in his bid to repeat as the world's greatest athlete.
