Hungary and Germany's dominance of Canoe Sprint today was on display for all to see at Eton Dorney as Hungary collected two gold medals and Germany a gold, silver and two bronzes out of four events.

Men's K1 1000m

Eirik Veras LARSEN (NOR) regained the Men’s K1 1000m title eight years after winning it at Athens 2004. Adam VAN KOEVERDEN (CAN), the 2011 World Champion, took a boat length's lead with a very fast start going ahead of European championship silver medallist Rene POULSEN (DEN).

On winning the gold medal, after winning gold at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, LARSEN said: "It was an amazing race; I started harder than normal and relaxed through the big middle section. I knew I had a good finish. This is a great result; it was a flashback to the '04 race. I have worked really hard as have my coaches; everyone has put in a good effort."

LARSEN who had been following VAN KOEVERDEN closely behind attacked in the last 250m to win gold. VAN KOEVERDEN was however able to hold on to silver despite a late effort from Max HOFF (GER), who took the bronze ahead of POULSEN.

VAN KOEVERDEN said of winning silver: "I'm being very positive, I know how hard this is. Everyone is looking for the same thing and it comes down to those final strokes. Today, Eirik (Veras LARSEN, NOR) was better."

Men's C1 1000m
It’s been a bit of whirlwind year for Sebastian BRENDEL (GER), the 24-year-old had to go through Germany’s Olympic team selection process after his paddle broke during the heats of last year's World Championship in Szeged, Hungary. That memory is no doubt a distant past as he put together a brilliant start, picking up his pace by the 500m mark to claim the Olympic title.

On winning the gold medal BRENDEL said: 

It's amazing. I am very happy. I have dreamed of this moment. I did my own race. I held my stroke rate like in training

Athens 2004 gold medallist and Beijing 2008 silver medallist David CAL (ESP) came from the back in the last 200m to take the silver medal ahead of Mark OLDERSHAW (CAN) who also had a very fast finish.

David CAL said of his performance: "I am very happy with the result. I have been working very hard for the past four years. Some people had some doubts but you can see that I accomplished what I wanted. I did suffer a bit in the last 250 metres so I was going backwards a bit where the plan was to go forward."

Vadim MENKOV who had been trailing BRENDEL from the beginning, could not keep up with the fast pace and had to settle for fourth. Mathieu GOUBEL (FRA) was very impressive during the preliminary rounds but failed to deliver in the final, finishing fifth ahead of Attila VAJDA (HUN). Hungary's VAJDA, the Beijing 2008 Olympic champion and 2011 World Champion went into the final as a favourite to win gold but today was never in medal range.

Men's K2 1000m
Rudolf DOMBI/Roland KOKENY (HUN) won Hungary’s first Canoe Sprint medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games for Hungary in the Men’s K2 1000m. The duo worked hard from the start to claim the gold medal, despite an early lead from Markus OSCARSSON/Henrik NILSSON (SWE).

Fernando PIMENTA/Emanuel SILVA (POR) made history today by winning the silver medal, the first medal for Portugal at London 2012 and the country’s first ever in Canoeing.
Beijing 2008 Olympic champions Martin HOLLSTEIN/Andreas IHLE (GER) made a late comeback to win bronze and deny Sweden a place on the podium.

PIMENTA (POR) who is competing at his first Olympic Games said: "It is an incredible sensation, because we have trained so hard for the last six months. It was great to be here, in my first Olympic Games, and we have won a medal."

Women's K4 500m
Hungary regained the gold medal that has eluded them since the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games in the Women’s K4 500m. Hungary took the lead at the start of the race and kept it till the end, taking gold despite the late comeback from the German squad who took silver.

Katalin KOVACS (HUN) who is a member of the K4 500m crew said of their victory after three previous silver medals in the event: "I cannot tell you how happy I am. It's an incredible feeling when something you planned comes true. I think that in our past three silvers, the same thing was involved (their experience). And I'm very sorry that I could not live through the same feeling with those crew mates.

Describing what she feels during the race, KOVAKS said: "It's incredible, the feeling, when you pass 200 (metres), and you know, that nobody can take that away from you, and when you pass 100 (metres), you're sure about that, but you have to make it to the end."

Belarus had a superb start and challenged Hungary and Germany for most of the race, but had to settle for the bronze medal. The Polish quartet who set a world best time in the semifinals were fourth.

Tomorrow’s competition begins at 09h30 with Men’s C2 1000m final.

For all results on one page - including filters - click here: http://www.archive.sportscene.tv/flatwater/canoe-sprint/result-archive/2012-london-olympic-games1