London 2012 Olympics: France’s Estanguet claims third canoe slalom title

TONY Estanguet of France won gold in the men’s canoe slalom, regaining the title he won in 2000 and 2004 by just over a second in a rattling finish on the rapids.

Estanguet set a winning time of 97.06sec to edge Sideris Tasiadis of Germany, who was the last competitor down the course and just missed out on gold. Tasiadis claimed silver in 98.09sec. Defending champion and 1996 gold medallist Michal Martikan of Slovakia took the bronze medal with 98.31sec in the first canoe-kayak final at the games.

Estanguet won back the C-1 title he held after the Sydney and Athens games, but lost to his longtime rival Martikan four years ago in Beijing. The Frenchman set the quickest time with a perfect run, and with just two more competitors to come on the 23-gate artificial Lee Valley White Water Centre course, just north of London.

He easily overhauled Martikan’s time, which looked like the mark to beat, and broke into a wide smile at the end.

Slovenia’s Benjamin Savsek – the penultimate paddler – had a disastrous last run, picking up countless penalties to finish last with 219.95sec. Tasiadis, who qualified fastest in the semi-finals, was behind Estanguet’s time through most of the splits but suddenly found a surge of energy in the last few gates to take it right to the line. But he just missed out on gold.