Kayak Singles, 200 metres, Men

Since winning bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Canadian Mark de Jonge had established himself as the man to beat in the Men’s K-1 200. He had moved up to second at the 2013 World Championships, before taking the title in 2014 and 2015 and setting a world record in the process. One potential competitor was Spain’s Saúl Craviotto, who had been the runner-up in London and was already in top form after winning the K-2 200 earlier in the Games. Great Britain’s Ed McKeever was the champion in London, but in Rio his nation was represented by Liam Heath, the 2016 European Champion, who had already won a silver medal in the K-2 200.

Of these three competitors, only Heath managed to win his preliminary heat. Craviotto finished behind Maxime Beaumont of France, the 2015 World runner-up, while de Jonge was third in a heat won by Germany’s Ronald Rauhe, a decorated canoeist with five K-1 200 World Championship titles dating back to 2001. De Jonge struggled again in the semifinals, placing fourth in his heat behind Heath, Rauhe, and Craviotto and avoiding elimination by a mere 0.003 seconds. Beaumont was the winner of the other semifinal. In the final, Beaumount started in the lead but was soon passed by Heath, who held on to capture gold a mere 0.165 seconds ahead of the Frenchman. In the race for bronze, it appeared at first that Craviotto had barely edged out Rauhe, but a closer examination of the finish revealed that they had both crossed the line at exactly 35.662 seconds, and thus both were awarded third place.