Zakhar Petrov finished second and went straight to the semi-finals.
When Russian tennis players Diana Schneider and Mirra Andreeva In the doubles final in Paris they took second place, many have assumed that Russia will not take gold again at the 2024 Olympics. The last time our athletes were leaving without medals of the highest order.
The worst result in 112 years ended, but then the canoeists Zakhar Petrov and Alexei Korovashkov took first place in the 500 meter two-man preliminary race and renewed their Olympic performance. The athletes gave hope to Russian fans that there was still a chance to compete for gold.
In addition, Petrov played powerfully in singles and even almost killed the reporters!
Two subjects are better than one
The 19-year-old Petrov earned an Olympic qualification back in May. Then Russia won the 1000 m distance at the European qualifying competition in Szeged, Hungary, showing a result of 3 minutes 47.02 seconds. There, a few days later, our athlete won bronze at the World Cup. The winner of the race, Brazilian Izaquias Queiroz, gave Petrova 1.48 seconds.
Initially, it was expected that Russian canoeists would be able to compete at the 2024 Olympics in three disciplines: Olesya Romasenko in the single 200-meter canoe, Alexey Korovashkov and Ivan Shtyl in the double team 500- meter, and Petrov in the 1000-meter. single meter.
However, the IOC broke all the plans of the Russian team by not allowing Ivan, who won the silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, to participate in the Games. The problem was quickly solved: Petrov, who received permission, replaced Shtyl to compete in two disciplines.
And although Zakhar (1 minute 50.452 seconds) won silver at the European Championships in Hungary in June, losing by just 0.010 seconds to leader Sergei Tarnovsky, many believed that Russia’s medal chances were win in the doubles team dropped significantly. In addition, Petrov might be compared to the suspended Ivan – but how would Korovashkov do in a duet with the silver medalist of the Games, with whom Alexey won two golds at the Championships Europe recently?
Despite his age, Zakhar not only coped with the pressure, but he did not feel it at all: in qualification, Petrov and Korovashkov set an Olympic record – 1 minute 38.65 seconds! In the next race, the Chinese Liu Hao and Ji Bowen showed the best time – 1 minute 37.40 seconds, but this did not matter, because our athletes immediately reached the semi-finals and showed that they could fight for gold.
Zakhar’s powerful performance in doubles gave hope that the Russian would perform successfully in singles as well.
There was almost talk about being fired
Our athlete took part in the first qualifying swim. The singles canoe has the same rules as the doubles – the fastest two in each race advance to the semi-finals, and the rest to the finals. Only in this subject there were five races, not two.
Immediately after the start, two clear leaders appeared – Petrov and Pole Viktor Glazunov. Meanwhile, the Russian covered 250 meters faster than his opponent by 0.07 seconds. After the first section, Zakhar slowed down a bit and Glazunov dropped to the front.
It can be assumed that our athlete ran out of strength, but, most likely, Petrov adhered to a special technique. Zakhar let Victor go ahead, but he saved his strength and did not rush to take the first place.
At the end of the race this became very apparent. At the 750 m section, the Russian was 0.53 seconds behind the leader and did not even think about joining the fight. As a result, Petrov finished 1.46 seconds after Glazunov, who became the first in the swim (3 minutes 48.40 seconds). It is interesting that the English reporters working on the official website coverage of the 2024 Olympics almost talked themselves into being fired.
After the finish, one of them started introducing Petrov and he almost said that he was an athlete from Russia. The reporter got his behavior in time and after a long pause Zakhar was a neutral athlete. If you cannot bring the flags of our country to competitions, it is not difficult to imagine that “Russia” on live television would also bring punishment.
The best result among all races was shown by the Romanian athlete Chirile Catalin, who set an Olympic performance of 3 minutes 44.75 seconds.
However, throughout the entire distance, Petrov seemed to have a reserve of strength. In any case, he performed successfully, immediately making it to the semi-finals.
Semi-final races in canoe singles will take place on August 9. 16 canoeists will take part in them.
Read also:
2024-08-07 13:43:38
#Russians #easily #reached #semifinals #Olympics #killed #reporter
