Kayak Singles (K1), 1,000 metres, Men

This was the 20th appearance of the event, which was one of four to be held at every Summer Games since canoeing was introduced in 1936. The reigning world champion was Bálint Kopasz of Hungary. The reigning Olympic champion was the British-born Mallorcan-based Spaniard Marcus Walz who could not defend his title as he was selected only in the Spanish K-4 team in Tokyo. Further medal contenders were the 2018 world champion Fernando Pimenta of Portugal and 2014 world champion and Rio silver medallist Jozef Dostal of Czech Republic. Additionally, two young athletes, Germany’s Jacob Schopf and Hungary’s Ádám Varga, were fancied medallists despite not having a world title between them.

The preliminary rounds did not bring any surprises. Among the 10 qualified athletes, all the favourites directly made it to the semi-finals, while the others had one more round in the quarter-finals. In the semis, Kopasz first set an Olympic best time and then, a couple of minutes later, Pimenta lowered it, which made their battle in the final one to be anticipated.

Kopasz was desperate from the start, bursting out of the blocks to push Pimenta for the lead. The rest of the field were happy to sit back and wait. Experienced campaigners like Dostal doubted the two leaders could keep up the pace for the entire 1000 metres, but he was wrong as Kopasz won, beating Pimenta, who finished third, with Varga, who was widely expected to challenge for gold, settling for silver, and Schopf fourth.

Gold in the men’s K-1 1000 has been a long time coming for the Hungarians. Their last gold medal was back in 1968, while their last medal of any colour was in 1976. Hungary also became the first nation to win gold and silver in a single Olympic canoe sprint event.