Team GB's Brabants wins kayaking gold
Friday, 22 Aug 2008 22:40
World champion Tim Brabants wins gold in men's K1 kayaking
Tim Brabants has won an 18th gold medal for Team GB by claiming victory in the men's 1000m K1 kayaking discipline.
The reigning European and world champion led from the start and held off his rivals on the approach to the line as he earned Britain's 41st medal of the Games - hitting the stretch target set by UK Sport with two-and-a-half days to spare.
"It's incredible, absolutely incredible," he told the BBC afterwards.
"The race went 100 per cent to plan. I just can't believe it - I'm so happy and lost for words.
"The last 14 or 15 years I've had Olympic gold in sight.
"Last time in Athens was disappointing but this year I've been going better and better and now I've finally got there."
Norway's Eirik Veraas Larsen finished second to take the silver medal, with Ken Wallace of Australia finished third to claim the bronze.
But it was rarely in doubt that Brabants, who is a qualified medical doctor, would take the win after he roared out of the blocks and never relinquished his lead.
One of the other pre-race favourites, Canada's Adam van Koeverden, started quickly but soon dropped out of contention to finish a lowly eighth.