Rio 2016: David Florence blows gold with disastrous final run in canoe slalom
The Scot had been in form with a reputation for resilience and putting setbacks out of mind
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British canoeist David Florence blew his hopes of an Olympic medal today as a disastrous run in the final saw him clip two gates and finish last in the final.
Florence, going fourth in the final, ran into trouble behind the 13th gate where, trying to push against the tide, he found himself in trouble amid the bollards at the back of the obstacle.
The Scot had been in good form and has a reputation for mental resilience and putting setbacks out of mind.
But he seemed to be affected by the set-back and also hit the 21st gate. By the time he ran over the finished line, he knew all hopes of a medal had gone and showed no emotion.
The course, cut into the side of a Rio hill, ought to have suited Florence, who brought more power than some of the finalists.
The feeling in the British camp was that that quality gave him a better chance of turning around any difficult situations which may come about when paddling against the waves in the bottom half of the course, where the canoeists were being asked to turn full circle and drive directly against the current.
The speed of the course in the bottom third of the 300m course made it make-or-break in the final stretch. The Briton completed the course in a time of 99.36 in the semi, which was the fifth fastest time when he completed his run. But he had been eclipsed by the end of the semi-final by the German Sideris Tasiadis, whose huge 95.63 time makes him look like the competitor to beat.
Florence was a full 3.73 seconds behind that. The obstacle to gold was revealed when Matey Benuj – one of the strong and well supported Slovak contingent here - smashed through in a time of 95.02 in the decent before Florence’s in the final.
Frenchman Denis Chanut Gargaud took almost a second off the Slovak’s time to win gold. Benuj took silver.
Tasiadis could not repeat his heroics in the final leaving Japense Takuya Haneda to take bronze.
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