Pierce LePage (born January 22, 1996) is a Canadian track athlete who competes in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

. He is the 2023 World champion, and the first Canadian to win the decathlon title at the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

. LePage is also the 2022 World silver medalist, 2018 Commonwealth silver medallist, and 2019 Pan American bronze medallist. LePage represented Canada at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, finishing in fifth place.

Career

Early years and Commonwealth silver (2015–18)

Starting track and field at the age of 12 and the decathlon at the age of 17, LePage emerged as a star athlete in 2015 after breaking the Canadian junior decathlon record. LePage then gained funding through the RBC Training Ground talent identification program in 2016. That same year he attended the

Décastar Décastar (stylised ''DECASTAR'') is an annual athletics competition that takes place in Talence, in the department of the Gironde in France. Organised by World Athletics, it is one of the athletics meetings that make up the World Athletics Challe ...

meet, and scored above 8000 points for the first time. In 2017, LePage attended the

Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics (sport), athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring (late May, early June). In its history, a total of three world records have been se ...

for the first time, finishing in seventeenth position, and then won the

NACAC Combined Events Championships The Pan American Combined Events Cup (''Spanish: Copa Panamericana de Pruebas Combinadas'') is a track and field competition in men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. Organized by the Association of Panamerican Athletics (APA), newly constituted i ...

. Domestically, he won the decathlon event at the 2017 Canadian Track and Field Championships, albeit in the absence of then-reigning Olympic bronze medalist

Damian Warner Damian David George Warner (born November 4, 1989) is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon, 2020 Olympic champion and a three-time World Athletics Champ ...

. LePage was named to the Canadian team for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

taking place in

Gold Coast, Australia The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

. In his first major championship appearance, he unexpectedly drew major media attention in his home country when teammate Warner, who led the event until midway through the second day, was triple-faulted in the pole vault and withdrew from the event. LePage then became the focus of the country's medal hopes and scored a personal best 8,171 points to win the silver medal behind

Lindon Victor Lindon Victor (born 28 February 1993) is a Grenadian athlete who competes in the decathlon. He is the 2023 World bronze medalist and a two-time Commonwealth Games champion (2018–2022). Career In 2016, he scored 8446 points with nine personal ...

of Grenada. After his podium finish, LePage said that "for me, this is a huge stepping stone going from local competitions to a big event like the Commonwealth Games." He credited Warner for his support, calling him "someone to talk to, lean on if you need help and at Commonwealth he was helpful — I probably couldn't have a won a silver medal without him there because he's a great leader by example." However, the remainder of his season was derailed by UCL and hamstring injuries, the latter sustained in an attempted comeback at the Décastar.

World Championship and Olympic debuts (2019–21)

In June of the 2019 season, LePage scored 8453 points to win the Décastar meeting in

Talence Talence (, ; oc, Talança, ; ca, Talença, ) is a commune in the Gironde department, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side. It is ...

, France, obtaining the qualifying standard for both the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. Named to the Canadian team for the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2019, links=no), officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games or Lima 2019 ( qu, Limaq 2019), were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Spo ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

alongside Warner, he was second in the standings after the first day of competition, with Warner in first. He dropped to third on the second day, surpassed by Grenada's Victor, and won the bronze medal. LePage noted that he was dealing with a knee injury he had incurred at the national championships earlier. He then made his World Championship debut at the 2019 edition in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, and finished fifth in the decathlon event with a score of 8445. As at the Pan American Games, he was in second place after the first day but ultimately dropped off the podium in the final two events, the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

and the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. He admitted afterward to being "a bit frustrated because of so many things that could've gone much better, but it's my first world championships, so what can you do." His high scores across the season lead to his placing third in the seasonal IAAF Combined Events Challenge. Due to the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

were delayed by a full year, and training became difficult with many facilities shut down. LePage noted that he was "training in a random field outside my house for about a year. Just running. I didn't

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

for a year, didn’t do

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

." LePage was named to his first Olympic team when the time came. Prior to the Games he participated in the 2021 Hypo-Meeting and won the silver medal behind Warner, setting new personal bests in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

, the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

, and 1500 metres. Competing in Tokyo, LePage was in third place after the first day of the

, though he noted that he was "going through some stuff" that impacted his ability to do the high jump. A year later he would later reveal that he had been competing through a torn

patella tendon The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection when t ...

, saying "I don't like having excuses. It was an experience I will never forget, and I learned from it." He ultimately finished in fifth place.

World silver and gold (2022–present)

LePage attended the 2022 Hypo-Meeting but only participated in the 100 metres and the long jump before withdrawing. At the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

, LePage finished the first day of the

in second place, after Warner was forced to withdraw because of a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury. On the second day, consecutive personal best performances in the hurdles and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

briefly elevated him into first place, but he was passed by Frenchman

Kevin Mayer Kevin Mayer (, or , born 10 February 1992) is a French Sport of athletics, athlete. He is two-time world champion (2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's decathlon, 2017, 2022 World Athletics Championships – Men's decathlon, 2022), ...

after the javelin and won the silver medal with a personal best score of 8701 points. On his podium finish, LePage noted that he had "always been high in the standings and then drop off near the end, and it was so much disappointment. To finally be on top, to stay on the podium is amazing." LePage was initially named to the Canadian team for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, but withdrew after the World Championships, with

Athletics Canada Athletics Canada or AC (french: Athlétisme Canada) is the national governing body of athletics in Canada, which includes track and field, cross-country running, road running, and race walking. Athletics Canada is involved in many aspects of the ...

citing a need "to properly recover and prepare for the rest of the season." At the 2023 Hypo-Meeting, LePage set new personal bests in both the 100 m and the javelin throw, winning the gold medal in an upset victory over Warner, the seven-time and defending champion. His score of 8700 points was one shy of his personal best. Competing at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

, LePage excelled on the first day of the decathlon, and was in second place at the halfway point of the event, ahead of Warner and behind German Leo Neugebauer. LePage began the second day with a new personal best 13.77 in the 110 m hurdles, taking the overall lead from Neugebauer, which he would retain for the remainder of the event, which included his second-best javelin mark ever (60.90 m). He took the gold medal, the first decathlon win for a Canadian man, and stood on the podium with Warner and Victor. His 8909 points were a new personal best, the sixth-highest in history, and the second-best winning margin at a World Athletics Championships after

Ashton Eaton Ashton James Eaton (born January 21, 1988) is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete (after Roman Šebrle) to break the 9,000-point ...

's 2015 event record. LePage revealed he had persevered through a couple of "close calls" with injury during the event, and said that "I've done so many decathlons with Damian and we're always supporting each other, so it's nice to share this podium with him."

Personal bests (outdoor)

Championship results

References

Sources

Damian Warner leads decathlon after 100m, Pierce LePage in 2nd

Pierce LePage leads decathlon after long jump

LePage happy with decathlon finish at track and field worlds

External links

* 1996 births Canadian decathletes Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games track and field athletes for Canada Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for Canada World Athletics Championships medalists Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships winners {{Canada-athletics-bio-stub