Aaron Brown finishes 9th in 200-metres; Warner 3rd after 
day one of decathlon  

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LONDON, UK -Aaron Brown of Toronto, Ont., missed out on the 200-metres final by five one-hundreths of a second and placed ninth overall in the men's 200-metres while Damian Warner of London, Ont., sits in third place in the decathlon after day six of track and field at the 2012 Olympic Games.

20-year old Aaron Brown raced to a new personal best of 20.42-seconds in the 200-metres semi finals just missing out on a spot in the final. "I was much more relaxed. It was great chasing Usain Bolt, he pulled me to a personal best." He adds, "I never thought I would get this close to the final, I was just looking for that personal best and to not finish last!"

Jared Connaughton of New Haven, PEI., clocked 20.64-seconds in his 200-metres semi final heat for 17th overall. "I was conservative on the corner and Tsákonas Likoúrgos-Stéfanos of Greece caught me in one of the fastest semis in history." Connaughton will now turn his attention to the men's 4x100-metre relay scheduled to being on Friday August 10 at 19:45 local time (14:45 eastern time).

After the first day of the men's decathlon Damian Warner sits in third place overall with 4386 points. "I feel great, I made it a goal to just come out and have fun and I knew the score would just come, it doesn't surprise me, I have very high expectations of myself." In the 100-metres he ran 10.48 seconds, jumped a personal best of 7.54 metres in the long jump, registered 13.73 metres in the shot put, high jumped a personal best of 2.05 metres and ran the 400-metres in a personal best of 48.20 seconds. "I am looking forward to day two, my hurdles are strong, my 1500-metres is strong, the discus is getting better and I'm consistent in the pole vault."

Cameron Levins of Black Creek, B.C., qualified for the men's 5000-metres semi final finishing eight in his heat in a personal best time of 13:18.29. "I'm glad to have made it through I knew I just needed to get to the last lap and go." He adds, "The 10,000-metres gave me a lot of experience and gave me huge confidence. I believed in myself and my abilities."  Levins is the first Canadian in an Olympic 5000-metres final since Alex Decoteau did it in 1912. 

Jessica Smith of North Vancouver, B.C., finished second in her heat to automatically qualify for the semi finals of the 800-metres clocking 2:07.75. "Top three all the way, even when I knew I had it I wanted to keep going and fast. I wanted to make sure I felt good going into the semis."

Melissa Bishop of Eganville, Ont., also in the women's 800-metres finished sixth in her heat in 2:09.33 and did not advance to the semi final. "It was a technical race to get to the semis. I was there but I was a bit impatient and I think kicked too fast, it happens, not the way I wanted it to go."

In the women's 1500-metres Hilary Stellingwerff of Sarnia, Ont., and Nicole Sifuentes of Winnipeg, Man., finished sixth and twelve respectively in their semi final heats. Stellingwerff stopped the clock at 4:05.67 for 15th overall, while Sifuentes clocked 4:06.33 for 18th overall.

Curtis Moss of Burnaby, B.C., finished 13th in group A of the men's javelin with a toss of 78.22-metres, he did not advance to the final.

Sultana Frizell of Perth, Ont., and Heather Steacy of Lethbridge, Alta., competed in the women's hammer throw qualifying. Frizell looked to have cleared 70-metres in her first toss but an error with the electronic measuring system cost her the mark. "My first throw wasn't measured, and it was my best one. They weren't ready and the measuring system wasn't working, before I knew what was going on it was too late and the next person already threw." Frizell had a best mark of 67.45-metres for 14th in group A and did not advance to the final.

Steacy finished 17th in group B with a toss of 63.40-metres. "I can't seem to figure out qualifying, I guess you learn that through experience."

Canadians track and field athletes in action on day 7     

Besides the decathlon, with five remaining events tomorrow (110-metre hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500-metres) Vancouver, B.C.'s Elizabeth Gleadle will be taking to the women's javelin final at 21:00 local time (16:00 eastern time). 

Jessica Smith will race in the women's 800-metres semi finals in heat 3 at 19:46 local time (14:46 eastern time).    

Stay connected with Team Canada    

For the latest news, schedule and results visit www.london2012.athletics.ca. You can follow all the action live on Twitter (@athleticscanada) and Facebook (CanadaTrackandField). 

-AC-  

Media contact

In London :
Mathieu Gentès    
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In Canada:
Robyn Woods   
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