Golden glow to the end of GB canoe sprint Olympic campaign
The final day of the canoe sprint programme saw the fast and furious 200 metres and the thrilling new Olympic distance produced some shining medal winning results.
In the Men’s K1, GB’s own Ed McKeever, the world’s fastest 200m sprinter made sure he owned the race from the start, he stormed out with his legendary explosive start and made sure that he showed the world, on home water exactly why he is known as canoeing’s ‘Bolt’. He powered his way through down his lane, held on and the incredibly close finish had everyone gripped right until the end, where McKeever took the crown and Olympic gold in a time of 36.246. Ed has dominated the 200m distance since its introduction and has not been seen off the podium since, however he has never managed to clinch the top spot, so it was fitting today that Ed took the well awaited win.
In the women’s K1 200m, Beijing Olympian Jess Walker was happy to be up against the world’s most formidable competitors including Beijing 500m Champion Inna Osypenko-Radomska. Earlier in the week Walker had already achieved something that British Sprint canoeing hasn’t seen since 1984, in a K4 with; Angela Hannah, Abigail Edmonds and Louisa Sawers. Jess was delighted to be in the mix and while she struggled to keep up she gave a good fight and finished in a well deserved 7th place.
In the Men’s K2, European Champions Liam Heath and Jon Schofield got off to a much better start than their semi final round yesterday, they battled with the Russian duo, rose to the support of the home crowd and ploughed ahead of the French double world champions duo to take a Bronze medal. The Russian crew have really come to form this year, their big powerful physiques were particularly suited to today’s head wind which made the race two seconds longer than in calmer conditions.
The duo commented,
"We were just glad to finish, the head wind was strong and we just held on as long as we could, we're delighted with the result."
The sunny conditions showed off the Eton Dorney Lake in all of its glory and the atmosphere in the stands was electric, the spectators delighted to take part in history as GB clinched their first double Gold in an Olympic Games.
The results are a glittering finish to what has been a week of spellbinding action and will go down in the history books as a truly memorable couple of weeks.
Results
Men’s K1 200m
1 Great Britain Ed McKeever 36.246
2 Spain CRAVIOTTO RIVERO Saul 36.540
3 Canada de JONGE Mark 36.657
Women’s K1 200m
1 New Zealand CARRINGTON Lisa 44.638
2 Ukraine OSYPENKO-RADOMSKA Inna 45.053
3 Hungary DOUCHEV-JANICS Natasa 45.128
7 Great Britain WALKER Jess 46.161
Men’s K2 200m
1 Russia POSTRIGAY Yury / DYACHENKO Alexander 33.507
2 Belarus PIATRUSHENKA Raman / MAKHNEU Vadzim 34.266
3 Great Britain SCHOFIELD Jon / HEATH Liam 34.421