Damian Warner wants the decathlon to remain Canadian domain at the Summer Games.

The defending Olympic champion is the lone hope after countryman Pierce LePage, the reigning world champ from Whitby, dropped out in mid-July after sustaining a surgery-requiring herniated disc months earlier.

“You always want to compete against the best athletes,” Warner, a London, Ont., native, said. “Pierce is a huge competitor. We both push each other to be better and you can’t rest on your laurels. All I do is give it my all with whoever is at the start line.