Kayak Singles, 200 metres, Men

This was the third and last appearance of the event for a while, as it will be not part of the canoe sprint programme in 2024. The 2016 Olympic champion and reigning world champion, Liam Heath of Great Britain, was the clear favourite over this distance. His main contenders were Maxime Beaumont of France, silver medallist in Rio, and Saul Craviotto of Spain, the bronze medallist in 2016 and silver medallist at London four years earlier. The reigning European champion Sándor Tótka of Hungary was another favourite.

From the five preliminary rounds, 10 athletes directly qualified into the semi-finals, while the others had one more round in the quarter-finals. In his race, Heath finished only third but easily won his quarter-final with an Olympic Record time. Both semi-finals were won by Hungarians, Tótka and 25-year-old Kolos Csizmadia, who beat Heath into second place. In the A Final, Tótka enjoyed a sensational victory in beating Manfredi Rizza of Italy and Heath. This was the fourth Olympic medal for the British canoeist after securing a bronze (K-1 200) and a silver (K-2 200) at London 2012, and a gold (K-1 200) at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Tótka and his wife had moved to a lakeside cottage as soon as the Covid pandemic broke out, and he continued his training and preparations, knowing that the Olympics would eventually return.