Kayak Singles, 1,000 metres, Men

The defending Olympic champion in the men’s K-1 1000 was Tim Brabants of Great Britain but, despite the advantage he would gain at a hometown Olympics, he was not considered be a challenger for the podium as he had been injured earlier in the season and had not won a major international medal in the event since the 2010 World Championships. He was also competing against a strong field of kayakers such as Canada’s Adam van Koeverden, the most recent World Champion, German Max Hoff, the 2009 and 2010 World Champion, and Eirik Verås Larsen of Norway, the 2004 Olympic Champion, the 2008 Olympic runner up, and three-time World Champion. Larsen certainly had the advantage in experience – his first World Championship title in the event had come in 2002 – but If anyone was a slight favorite it was Hoff, who was coming into the event with back-to-back European Championship victories from 2011 and 2012.

The Canadian, however, posted the fastest times in both the heats and the semi-finals, drawing attention away from Hoff. In the final van Koeverden took an early lead and maintained it for the first 750 metres, but a strong push from Larsen in the closing quarter of the race saw the Norwegian make up nearly an entire length of distance between the two. Leaving the rest of the pack behind them, Larsen and van Koeverden went neck and neck in the final stretch, with the Canadian being just edged out by the Norwegian’s experience and technical prowess in the final metres. Larsen thus reclaimed the title he had lost in 2008 and van Koeverden took home silver, his fourth Olympic medal after having won gold and bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the K-1500 m and K-1000 m respectively, and silver in the K-1500 m in Beijing. Hoff covered the open water between Larsen and van Koeverden and nearly stole second place from the Canadian, but had to settle for bronze after coming up short by just under six-tenths of a second.