TOKYO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos dominated the Olympic men’s canoe single 1,000 metres event to win the gold medal at the Sea Forest Waterway on Saturday after defending champion Sebastian Brendel failed to reach the final.
The 27-year-old Queiroz dos Santos, the silver medallist in Rio, finished with a time of four minutes, 04.408 seconds, ahead of China’s Liu Hao and Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi for his maiden Olympic title.
“I feel I’ve finally lifted the weight of the world from my back,” Queiroz dos Santos said.
“That doesn’t mean I feel pressure, but I felt an obligation to sports lovers of Brazil to represent our country. Now I feel way lighter.”
Brendel’s bid to become the first man to win a record three Games golds in the event ended in disappointment as the London 2012 and Rio 2016 winner was seventh in the second semi-final.
The 33-year-old, who won bronze with Tim Hecker in the canoe double 1,000m on Tuesday, dismissed questions on his future.
“It’s not the right point to discuss it or think about it. I want to enjoy the Olympics … I did a good race in C2, so I’ll keep that in mind,” Brendel said.
New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington was unsuccessful in her quest to become the first athlete to win four canoe sprint medals at a single Games. She and team mates Alicia Hoskin, Caitlin Regal and Teneale Hatton finished fourth in the women’s kayak four 500m.
The quartet of Danuta Kozak, Tamara Csipes, Anna Karasz and Dora Bodonyi excelled in wet, windy conditions to help Hungary retain their title, while Belarus claimed silver and Poland settled for bronze.
Germany’s Max Rendschmidt, Ronald Rauhe, Tom Liebscher and Max Lemke then won gold in the men’s kayak four 500m, finishing ahead of Spain and Slovakia.
Victory meant the 39-year-old Rauhe became the first man to bag a canoe sprint medal in five different Games, having won his first in Sydney 2000.
“It’s incredible… When I was in front, I was clear it was my last strokes here, it was a perfect ending,” Rauhe said.
“To finish with a gold, it’s like I have it in my dreams so I’m really good now to finish my career.”
China’s Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya became the first Olympic champions in women’s canoe double 500 metres, with the event having made its debut in Tokyo.
The world champions finished ahead of Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Chetverikova, while Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent took bronze.
(Reporting by Toshiki Hashimoto in Tokyo, writing by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford, Michael Perry and Himani Sarkar)
