TOKYO -- Canada and Belgium added hardware in two of track and field's premier Olympic events.
Canadian Damian Warner, 31, led from start to finish to win the men's decathlon gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday with a new Games record score of 9,018 points.
Frenchman Kevin Mayer, who holds the world record in decathlon with 9,126 points, took his second successive Olympic silver medal after finishing on 8,726 points.
Australian 21-year-old Ash Moloney, the world Under-20 champion, won bronze with 8,649.
"That's crazy," an emotional Warner said, still looking relatively fresh after competing in hot and humid conditions over two days.
"When I was in grade six I wrote in a school project that I'd be in the Olympics one day, and who would have known that I would be an Olympic gold medalist."
Warner became the oldest Olympic champion in the men's decathlon, overtaking Norway's Helge Lovland, who was 30 years and 102 days in 1920.
On the women's side, Belgium's Nafi Thiam won her second consecutive gold medal in the Olympic heptathlon on Thursday, dominating in the javelin and the long jump events to secure victory.
The Netherlands' Anouk Vetter and Emma Oosterwegel won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Thiam had ended Wednesday's program third in the standings, telling reporters she was feeling poorly throughout the first four events.
"The first day was difficult for me. So on day two I had to really focus," Thiam said. "I knew I had to do something really good in the long jump and javelin."
She delivered on that goal, launching a mighty 54.68m throw in the javelin on her second attempt, her best performance this season, and coming up with a 6.60m leap in the long jump before finishing with 6,791 points.
"My coach was so positive and told me he believed in me today," she said. "I am really happy I was able to go through that and put my performances together."
Thiam, 26, became the first woman since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1992 to win back-to-back Olympic heptathlon titles. She won the world title in 2017 and finished second at the 2019 World Championships.
"It feels so good. I can't believe it. I am so emotional I can't describe it," she added.
Reuters contributed to this report.