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Ladislav Skantar and Peter Skantar secured gold for Slovakia in the men’s canoe slalom double on Thursday at the 2016 Summer Olympics, while in the women's singles Maialen Chourraut produced a stunning performance to triumph.
The two cousins put together an exemplary run to finish narrowly ahead of Great Britain at Whitewater Stadium, while France’s score was enough for bronze. The duo posted its time early in the final and had to watch on nervously as illustrious teams chased down its marker.
Later in the day, Chourraut produced one of the runs of the competition so far, taking apart the field in the final. The Spaniard had time to spare on New Zealand's Luuka Jones and Australia's Jessica Fox, who took silver and bronze, respectively.
Here’s a recap of the canoe slalom action from Rio, the results from the finals and how the medal table stands:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Double | Ladislav Skantar and Peter Skantar (SVK) 101.58 | David Florence and Richard Hounslow (GBR) 102.01 | Matthieu Peche and Gauthier Klauss (FRA) 103.24 |
| Women's Single | Maialen Chourraut (ESP) 98.65 | Luuka Jones (NZL) 101.82 | Jessica Fox (AUS) 102.49 |
In the men’s final, the pre-race favourites were the British pairing of David Florence and Richard Hounslow, especially after they seemed to coast through their semi-final with the third-fastest time.
Even so, when it comes to the final of these notoriously unpredictable events, things can change quickly. All eyes were on the early runners to see if one of those duos could put together a potential gold-medal run.
The United States, first up, were unable to, as were the pairs from Switzerland, Russia and Slovenia. But the Slovakian team nailed the opening section of the course and, as noted by Planet Canoe, were well ahead of the rest of the teams:
Skantar and Skantar continued to pick up pace throughout the run, and their eventual score of 101.58 far surpassed the best effort to that point. But with some quality still to make their way through the course, they had to wait anxiously for the final to be finished.
Matthieu Peche and Gauthier Klauss went close for the French, while neither Poland nor the Czech Republic were good enough for a medal, with the latter team really struggling around the course. Going third from last, as noted by BBC Sport, the omens looked good for Great Britain:
When Florence and Hounslow could only take second spot with their run, gold was almost secured for Skantar and Skantar, with just Germany to come.
Franz Anton and Jan Benzien were unable to produce the time needed, handing Slovakia its first gold of the Games. Great Britain were narrowly behind in the silver-medal spot, with France clinging on for bronze.
In the women’s individual event, it was Jones who laid down an early marker, posting 101.82 with the fourth run of the final.
CGW’s Andrew Mulligan was very impressed with her performance:
The New Zealander’s effort was proving tough to better as well; Australia’s Fox thought she had done it, although a two-point penalty accrued for clipping the gate bumped her back down into second behind Jones.
And as had been the case earlier in the final, those competitors going out later in the day were finding the pressure difficult to cope with. Indeed, Katerina Kudejova was well short of her best, while the well-fancied Fiona Pennie failed to find her rhythm, too.
It became apparent that only a very special run would be enough to usurp Jones at the summit of the leaderboard. Unfortunately for the woman from New Zealand, Chourraut produced exactly that.
The Spaniard’s display was extraordinary. She weaved her way expertly around the course, picking exceptional lines and showcasing remarkable poise to dart through the gates. The result was a final score of just 98.65, enough to draw gasps from the watching crowd.
Planet Canoe documented Chourraut’s reaction:
As Pennie faltered, the only competitor who could have beaten her leading time was Austria’s Corinna Kuhnle. However, just like those of the rest of the field, she was far behind after Chourraut’s sensational score.
France's Denis Gargaud Chanut won the 2016 Summer Olympics canoeing men's single C1 discipline with a time of 94.17 seconds on Tuesday.
The former world champion finished less than a second ahead of silver-medal winner Matej Benus of Slovakia, with Takuya Haneda of Japan finishing in the third spot.
The Deodora course would challenge the paddlers' versatility, agility and strength, with six awkward upstream gates to navigate.
Here is a breakdown of the results from Tuesday's action:
| Position | Nationality | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | France | Denis Gargaud Chanut | 94.17 |
| Silver | Slovakia | Matej Benus | 95.02 |
| Bronze | Japan | Takuya Haneda | 97.44 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | Vitezslav Gebas | 97.57 |
| 5 | Germany | Sideris Tasiadis | 97.90 |
| 6 | Slovakia | Benjamin Savsek | 99.36 |
| 7 | USA | Casey Eichfeld | 99.69 |
| 8 | Spain | Ander Elosegi | 101.27 |
| 9 | Portugal | Jose Carvalho | 105.74 |
| 10 | Great Britain | David Florence | 109.00 |
Casey Eichfeld of the United States was the first in the order to test himself on the 242-metre course. Less than an hour after his semi-final outing, the American was handed a four-second penalty after catching the edge on Gate 17 and Gate 22.
He eventually crossed the line in 99.69 seconds, shrieking in excitement, but Eichfeld would not be in the medals contest with those two errors.
Jose Carvalho of Portugal also endured a tough time on the man-made water feature, as he suffered four penalties.
Benus was third to take to the water. One of the favourites for the top spot on the podium, the dominant figure produced a slick display, with deep, long strokes.
With six upstream gates for the paddlers to manoeuvre, Benus produced an impressive showing to spin on the spot at 19 before crossing the line 4.67 seconds ahead of Eichfeld, without suffering any penalties.
The hopes of Great Britain fell to world champion David Florence, but two significant errors early on in his run ended any ambitions of a medal. After getting off to a strong start, the Brit was caught out by the strength of the rapids and lost momentum, eventually crossing the line in over 109 seconds.
BBC Scotland sport reporter Kheredine Idessane saw Florence's medal ambitions falter:
Haneda—one of the classiest paddlers in the field—recorded a time 2.42 seconds behind Benus. Turning tightly around the poles, the Japanese athlete lacked the raw power of his Slovakian rival but placed himself in contention.
Vitezslav Gebas of the Czech Republic held his own in the midsection of the tricky Deodora course, working hard to burst across the line.
Benjamin Savsek, another Slovakian, was seventh out of the gate and had been expected to challenge his compatriot for the top spot on the rostrum. A penalty on the 14th seemed to end his hopes of gold, and that was further underlined after another mistake in the closing stages.
Gargaud Chanut, the world champion from 2011, was slow to get into his stride but took a beautiful approach into the seventh gate. Less aggressive than most, the experienced paddler was smooth in his execution and was calm throughout. Up in the final split, the Frenchman burst over the line with less than a second lead.
Team World Blog noted how the battle between the two countries had extended from their semi-final meet:
In the penultimate run of the day, Spain's Ander Elosegi suffered a penalty on the first gate of the course to hand him a blow early on in the contest. He trailed by 1.67 seconds at the halfway point before picking up another two-second penalty on the difficult Gate 19, eventually crossing the line in 101 seconds.
In the final run of the day, Germany's Sideris Tasiadis unleashed from the starting blocks but clipped the right-sided pole on Gate 9. He lost time going off-course midway through his run and could never recover and eventually crossed the line 3.73 seconds behind the top spot, finishing in fifth place.
Gargaud Chanut, 29, took home the gold medal in the C1 discipline after a fine performance, using his experience and technical strokes to attack the water and finish the day with a 0.85-second lead over Benus in second, with Haneda rounding out the medal positions.
