Olympic Champion. It is a title that few ever achieve and is reserved for some of the all-time greats.

Andre De Grasse made history Wednesday night, adding his name to that most exclusive club in style, winning the men’s 200 metres in a Canadian record time of 19.62 seconds. Speaking of history, it was Canada’s first gold medal in the 200 metres since Percy Williams at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

“I’m just proud – proud of this moment. I want everybody to know: I shocked the world. That’s what I came here to do. This is my moment. I knew I had it in me and I just wanted to come out here and get the job done,” said De Grasse. “Coming into my second Games, I knew I was ready. I was prepared for this. I trained an extra year for this, and I knew I was ready.”

Teammate Aaron Brown was sixth in the 200-metre final. It was the first time since those 1928 Olympics that two Canadians ran the 200-metre final. “Not the result that I wanted, but I’m satisfied in that I know there’s more work to be done,” said Brown. “This isn’t the end of the road, so I’m not going to hang my head. I’m proud of what I did to get here and I’m just going to keep waiting for my opportunity to challenge for a medal.”

Geneviève Lalonde set her second Canadian record of these Games in the women’s 3,000-metre steeplechase. She crossed the line in a time of 9:22.40 to set the new benchmark. Her 11th-place finish was also the best finish for a Canadian woman in the event.

“Anytime I get the chance to race against the best in the world, it’s an incredible opportunity,” said Lalonde. “Being able to run my best, considering everything that’s going on in the world, I am just so lucky to be able to represent my country here and run two national records back-to-back.”

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford ran a great race to finish third in her 1,500-metre semi-final in a season’s best time of 3:58.28 to qualify for the final. “It was good. I’m excited about that. Second-fastest time ever, getting back under four minutes is a huge confidence booster,” said DeBues-Stafford. “I knew that form has been there for a while, but today felt really smooth. There were a lot of doubts this year about whether I could regain that kind of fitness and I’m back, if not better.”

Her sister Lucia Stafford hustled through the line to finish sixth in her 1,500-metre semi-final, establishing a new personal best time of 4:02.12, but did not advance to the final.

Kyra Constantine had a great showing in her first Olympics. She finished fifth in her 400-metre semi-final in a time of 51.22 seconds.

Combined events take centre stage

The focus ofCanadian track and field was on the two combined events for the morning session of Day 6: decathlon and heptathlon. Hands down, the most gruelling two-day competitions of the Games made even worse by the hot, humid conditions in Tokyo.

World No. 1 ranked decathlete Damian Warner is looking to step onto the Olympic podium for the second time in Tokyo, while Olympic rookies Pierce LePage and Georgia Ellenwood are just starting to establish themselves in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively.

After the first day of competition, Damian Warner is in first place in the men’s decathlon (4,722 points), followed by Australia’s Ashley Moloney (4,641 points) and fellow Canadian Pierce LePage (4529 points).

“It was pretty good, overall. We’re perfectionists, so we can go through and nitpick on certain things, but this is my second-best performance ever and to do that at an Olympic Games, with the tough schedule and the heat, I’m really happy with that,” said Warner. “This decathlon is far from over and I think that I can do some good things tomorrow.”

“Being my first Olympic Games, I was a little shaky in the first two events – maybe not exactly what I wanted – but close enough to where I wanted,” said LePage. “I’m just ready to show everyone what I’m made of. I’ve been working hard, so I’m looking forward to seeing it unfold.”

Ellenwood sits in 15th place after four events, with a score of 3,690 points.

“It’s hard because, after the morning session, you rest for a while then try to come back and give it the same effort, and sometimes it’s not exactly there,” said Ellenwood. “I think I had a pretty good day. I’m trying not to worry too much about times. I think if I have fun and do my best, that’s when it’s going to come.”

Decathlon recap

In the first event of the day, Warner tied his world decathlon best in the 100 metres, with a time of 10.12 seconds, good for 1,066 points

Warner followed that up with another stellar performance in the long jump, setting a new Olympic decathlon best mark, with his top jump of 8.24 metres, good for another 1,123 points.

He finished the morning with a season’s best throw of 14.80 metres in the decathlon shot put, good for another 777 points.

Warner topped out at 2.02 metres in the decathlon high jump, adding 822 points to his score.

In the last event of the day, Warner was third in the decathlon 400 metres, banking 934 more points with his time of 47.48 seconds.

LePage was third in his 100-metre heat, scoring 992 points for his time of 10.43 seconds.

He banked another 972 points in the men’s decathlon long jump, where he had the longest jump of Group A, leaping 7.65 metres.

LePage earned 809 more points in the decathlon shot put, with a personal best throw of 15.31 metres.

He retired from the men’s decathlon high jump after hitting 1.99 metres and banking another 794 points.

LePage then finished Day 1 by taking second in the decathlon 400 metres with a personal best time of 46.92 seconds to earn 962 points.

Heptathlon recap

Ellenwood got her first Olympic heptathlon event under her belt, scoring 1,055 points for her time of 13.47 seconds in the 100-metre hurdles.

She jumped a personal best 1.83 metres in the heptathlon high jump, good for third in her group, a new personal best, and 1,016 big points.

Ellenwood got her evening session going with a best shot put throw of 12.39 metres to add 687 points to her total.

The heptathlete finished third in her 200-metre group in a time of 24.51 seconds, earning her another 932 more points, giving her a total of 3,690 points after the first day of action.