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Olympic wake-up call: Canada's decathletes make a statement, De Grasse golden in 200m

Zachery Ziemek, left, of the United States, Damian Warner of Canada, Steven Bastien of the U.S. and Pierce LePage of Canada compete in their decathlon 100-metre heat on Wednesday.  (Martin Meissner/The Associated Press - image credit)
Zachery Ziemek, left, of the United States, Damian Warner of Canada, Steven Bastien of the U.S. and Pierce LePage of Canada compete in their decathlon 100-metre heat on Wednesday. (Martin Meissner/The Associated Press - image credit)

Canada's athletes have been striking as they compete in the men's decathlon at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

Damian Warner and Pierce LePage of Canada were 1-2 in the standings after three events Wednesday. The high jump event was still underway at publishing time.

Warner finished the 100 metres in 10.12 seconds to tie his decathlon world record. He nearly broke his record in long jump and improved his shot put result over his season's best. He cleared 2.02 metres in high jump, but missed his three jumps at 2.05 metres.

LePage also brought his best effort, winning his groups in long jump and shot put and serving the third-fastest time in the 100. In high jump, LePage cleared 1.99 metres on his second attempt, before electing to stop.

WATCH | Warner executes in decathlon's 100 metres:

Here's what you else you may have missed in Tokyo on Wednesday:

De Grasse finally an Olympic champion

In a heart-pounding men's 200-metre final, Andre De Grasse broke away from a stacked field to capture Olympic gold.

De Grasse, 26, finally claimed an Olympic title after running a Canadian-best 19.62 seconds. It was the fifth Olympic career medal for the runner from Markham, Ont. De Grasse has now earned a medal in all Olympic and world championships in which he's entered.

Americans Kenneth Bednarek (19.68) and Noah Lyles (19.74) respectively earned silver and bronze medals.

Canada's Aaron Brown, competing in his first 200m final, finished sixth with a time of 20.20.

De Grasse can now come within one medal of the all-time Canadian mark set by swimming great Penny Oleksiak when he anchors the men's 4x100m this week.

The heats begin Wednesday night (10:39 p.m. ET), followed by the final on Friday morning (9:50 a.m. ET).

WATCH: Andre De Grasse captures Olympic title in men's 200m:

Canadian canoe world champions debut at Olympics

Depending where you are across the country, you may have missed Canada's Laurence Vincent Lapointe — a 13-time canoe world champion — and Katie Vincent — two-time world champion in doubles — compete at the Olympics for the first time.

Tokyo marks the first time women are competing in canoes at the Games. Before, there were only kayak events.

Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

The Canadians both competed in the canoe single 200-metre event and are moving on to the semifinals. Vincent both laughed and cried while reflecting on the sport's journey to the Games.

"This didn't come overnight. It took decades really. To take that moment and be part of that for women's sport is pretty honourable, and I'm pretty proud of it," she said.

Skateboarding's youth movement

The youngest medallist on the skateboarding podium in the women's park event was born in 2008.

Japan took the two top spots, with Sakura Yosozumi, 19, winning gold.

Kokona Hiraki, 12, won silver, to become Japan's youngest Olympic medallist ever. Sky Brown, 13, became the youngest Olympic medallist for Great Britain, throwing down a great final run to secure third place.

Another young competitor, Misugu Okamoto of Japan, nearly landed on the podium at age 15, but finished in fourth place.

When the athlete started to cry after falling in her final run, her fellow competitors ran to embrace her and lifted her up onto their shoulders in a heartwarming moment of sportsmanship.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Canadian women tee off

Canada's Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp have finished the first of four rounds in the women's golf tournament.

It was a rougher start, with Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., and Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., both shooting a 3-over 74. They're tied in 47th place.

The tournament is taking place at the east course of the Kasumigaseki Country Club, which was a controversial pick when announced a few years ago.

In case you missed it, the private club didn't allow women to become full members or play on Sundays — the rule was changed after the International Olympic Committee got involved.

Toby Melville/Reuters
Toby Melville/Reuters

Too hot to handle

Canada is echoing Sweden's request to move the gold medal match for women's soccer, which is currently scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. Tokyo time.

The problem? The heat is scorching, and the soccer organizations are worried for the athletes' safety.

The request isn't entirely unique — some tennis events in Tokyo were rescheduled because of the same concerns.

Men's soccer at the Olympics is also wrapping up, where it will be Spain and Brazil battling for gold. Spain beat host country Japan 1-0 after extra time to reach the match, while the defending champions Brazil edged out Mexico 4-1 on penalties.