Germany beat the Spaniards favourites to K4 500m gold

MEN K4 500M: Against all odds the German four passed the impressive Spanish team to win gold. Slovakia won the bronze medal in the category. 

WOMEN K4 500M: The Hungarians won their third successive Games gold medal

WOMEN C2 500M: China takes first ever win in canoe sprints

MEN C1 1000M: Emotional victory for Brazilian Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos as he fought back tears for his deceased coach.

Germany has won the K4 500m in the canoe sprints beating Spain to the finish line in 1:22:219. The Spanish team had entered as favourites after setting an Olympic best of 1:21:658 during the heats. 

However, the German team made up of Tom Liebscher, Max Lemke, Ronald Rauhe and Max Rendschmidt made up for it and won the Olympic title 0.226 seconds ahead of Spain. Slovakia finished in 1:23.534, taking the bronze medal. 

Spanish Saul Craviotto has won five Olympic medals in total - two golds, two silver and one bronze. He is Spain’s all-time leading medallist at the Games. However, this victory belongs to the Germans at the Sea Forest Waterway. 

Women’s K4 500m canoe sprints wins incredible third successive gold

The Hungarians passed early leaders New Zealand and then fought against Belarus and Poland to maintain their first place in this event, which they haven’t lost since the London 2012 Olympic Games. This win has given Danuta Kozak her sixth gold medal. 

The 12 month delay to the Tokyo Olympics worked to Kozak’s favour who recovered from an injury in her lower back and muscle damage in her rib cage. She is the only member of the team who has been winning in the women kayak four 500m since London. 

The gold medalists Kozak, Bodonyi, Karasz and Csipes crossed the finish line in a time of 1:35.463. They were followed by Belarus with 1:36.073 and Poland in 1:36.445. New Zealand stayed out of the podium, meaning Lisa Carrington could not win her four Olympic golds this time. 

China wins their first ever gold in the C2 500m

Mengya Sun and Shixiao Xu won in Tokyo for the first time, inspiring more Chinese women to take up the sport. Not only did they win their first ever in canoe sprints, but also it was the first time the women’s C2 500 was held in the Olympics. 

The chinese athletes, Sun and Xu, were medal contenders as they had won the gold medal at the 2019 ICF canoe sprint world championship. The chinese team finished ahead of Anastasiia Chetverikova and Liudmyla Luzan from Ukraine. Canadian Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent took the bronze. 

The pair will defend their gold medal in Paris 2024. 

Brazilian win in the Men’s C1 1000m

Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos had to fight back tears as he talked about the emotions behind his Olympic gold medal in the men’s C1000m. His coach prepared the brazilian athlete for 2021 but tragically did not live to see the moment. 

Jesus Morlan, his Spanish coach was diagnosed with a brain tumour and died at the end of the year. Now dos Santos has become Brazil’s first canoe sprint Olympic champion. China’s Hao Liu won the silver while Serghei Tarnovschi of Moldova won the bronze.