Damien Warner produced a dominant display in the final 100m heat of the decathlon to climb to the top of the leaderboard after the first event.
The Canadian stormed away from his rivals to finish the race in a time of 10.29 seconds, an effort which would have been good enough to earn him a spot in the semi-finals of the 100m.
England's John Lane came home in second as he made a solid start to his campaign for a medal, while Willem Coertzen of South Africa claimed third.
Earlier in the morning, Lane's teammate Martin Brockman started the decathlon in disappointing fashion as he was forced to settle for last place in his own heat.
