Joe Clarke misses out on medal in canoe slalom K1
Joe Clarke’s bid to become a two-time Olympic champion in canoe slalom K1 fell short with a frustrating fifth-placed finish.
The Stone paddler, champion in Rio eight years ago but then not selected for Tokyo 2020, looked in excellent form when he clocked the fastest time in the semi-finals at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
But a couple of hours later he was unable to repeat the feat in the final, with Italy’s Giovanni de Gennaro instead taking gold.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Clarke. “It was a very, very fast final. I don’t think I did too much wrong, just a couple of mistakes.
“I just got slightly stuck and had to correct it and that’s probably the difference between a podium and not.
“That’s canoe slalom, how tight it is. That was an immense final. The time differences are so finite and it’s hard to beat yourself up when it is so close. I didn’t crumble under the pressure, I kept a clean run, so it’s hard to digest.”
Clarke’s semi-final time of 89.51 seconds was more than a second and a half faster than the next man, Germany’s Noah Hegge.
The final then got off to an explosive start when Spain’s Echaniz, the first man off who had scraped in with the 12th quickest qualifying time, set the fastest time of the entire tournament to that point with a run of 88.87 seconds. That was despite incurring a two-second penalty for clipping a gate.
De Gennaro went down clean to move into top spot with a time six-tenths of a second quicker, before defending champion Jiri Prskavec saw his hopes go up in smoke by hitting two gates on his final run.
Terrific drama then ensued when France’s Titouan Castryck was roared down the course by the home crowd, only to make a mistake in the middle to finish two-tenths behind De Gennaro’s time.
Clarke was smiling as he prepared to set off and was half a second up at the first time check, only to then be slowed by an error heading through the sixth gate.
He was unable to make the time back as he finished nearly a second outside the medals.
Clarke's Olympics are not finished as he starts his campaign in kayak cross, an event in which he is a three-time world champion, on Friday.
