Tokyo 2020 - Defending champion Liam Heath through to Men's Kayak Single 200m final
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Published 05/08/2021 at 01:23 GMT
Great Britain's Liam Heath picked up where he left off in his quarter-final on Wednesday, to ease into the Men's Kayak Single 200m final on Thursday morning. Heath had suggested that a shock defeat in his heat had focused his mind and the defending Olympic champion qualified second fastest at Sea Forest Waterway. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.
TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 05: Liam Heath of Team Great Britain competes during the Men's Kayak Single 200m Semi-final 1 on day thirteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Sea Forest Waterway on August 05, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Get
Image credit: Getty Images
Defending Olympic champion Liam Heath is through to the final of the Men’s Kayak Single 200m despite being edged into second place in his semi-final.
Heath, who suffered a surprise defeat in Wednesday’s heats, led in the closing stages of Thursday’s first semi-final but was beaten by Hungarian Kolos Csizmadia by less than 1,000th of a second at Sea Forest Waterway.
The Briton finished the course in 35.108 seconds, 0.009 seconds behind Csizmadia, and is safely through to the final later on Thursday as the first four finishers in each semi-final made sure of their progress.
Csizmadia and Heath will be joined in the showpiece race by Petter Mnning and Roberts Akmens, but, Serbian Strahinja Stefanovic, who won silver at the World Championships in 2019, and Rio 2016 silver medallist Maxime Beaumont will have to make do with a place in the B final.
Hungary will have two representatives in the A final, meanwhile, after Sandor Totka won the second semi-final in a time of 35.114 seconds, 0.057 seconds ahead of Italian Manfredi Rizza.
Spanish pair Carlos Arevalo and Saul Craviotto came home in third and fourth to complete the final line-up.
Heath, who won gold in Rio five years ago, will bid to become the last ever men’s K1 200m champion when the final gets under way at 11:42 local time (GMT+9). The event has not been included in the Olympic programme for Paris 2024.
However, Deborah Kerr was knocked out of the Women's Kayak Single 500m after she finished last in her semi-final.
Great Britain's Kerr, who was drawn in lane one, came home in 56.31 - exactly three seconds behind the winner, Hungarian Tamara Csipes.
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