Fuks wait is over, the master canoeist will bring the dream gold from Paris

The 31-year-old three-time world champion won his first medal in his third Olympic appearance. He improved on fifth place from Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

“Pabout such years of waiting it is here. Maybe it will happen to me later. I went into it wanting to win the race. I didn’t deal with where I was, and I managed very well,” I evaluated Fuksa for Czech Television.

“I have to say that I enjoyed in the last meters to feel that I was riding in first place in the Olympic final. The dream came true,” he continued.

Domination from start to finish

The man from Nymburk followed up his dominant performance from the morning semi-final in the final. In the fight for medals, he moved to the front right after the start and gradually built up to a lead of ten meters. He clocked 3:43.16 in the final, breaking the Olympic record on the course for the second time in one day.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that I can ride well at the main events. I wanted to show it at the biggest media event and I did it. Before the Olympics I felt that I could it works, but you don’t know until now.

Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz, who finished brilliantly, was happy with the money, while Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi finished third, just like in Tokyo. Already in the semi-final, one of his favourites, Catalin Chirila from Romania, was eliminated. The 2022 world champion and runner-up from last year’s tournament won the B final and had to settle for ninth place. The 36-year-old 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion Sebastian Brendel of Germany finished eighth in the A final.

Špicar and Havel were already shining in the finals

For Špicar and Havel, advancing to the final was already a huge success. Even there, they were in last place after the start. Unlike the semi-final, where they moved into third place in the second half of the series, they passed in the final performance. on the lake in Vaires-sur-Marne only Americans Jonas Ecker and Aaron Small.

Špicar, thirty one, was at the Games for the first time. Havel, who is a year older, has two Olympic bronzes, which he won in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 as a member of a successful quadruple kayak.

The Germans Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke celebrated the victory, joined on the podium by the silver Bence Nádas and Sándor Tótka from Hungary and the third Australians Jean van der Westhuyzen and Tom Green.