Finn Butcher turned in a supremely powerful and skilled performance to win the gold medal in the kayak cross racing today.
Butcher, ranked ninth in the world, showed a cool head at the most pressure-laden of moments to emerge victorious in a frenetic and testing event. He thus becomes the first champion in this new and exciting Olympic sport.
Luuka Jones was not far from getting among the medals in the women’s competition. She was proceeding in dominant fashion through each round until she came unstuck in her semi-final when she didn’t round a pole correctly and was disqualified. As if to prove how close she’d been, she came back and won her final race - what amounted to the B final - finishing fifth overall.
But this was Butcher’s day. The 29-year-old is the pride of Central Otago, Alexandra specifically, and they’ll be celebrating in grand fashion there.
Butcher had looked strong in the first two days of competition and, though slightly under-rated on the world stage, loomed as a potential medallist if things fell his way. His consistency in such a hectic event was remarkable.
Today he won his quarter-final as of right and, though he struck a tough semi-final, he still looked good in finishing second to world No 1 Joe Clarke of Great Britain, with the first two to advance to the final.
Clarke was favoured for the final, but Butcher was away like a rocket and before Clarke had really found himself, the New Zealander was belting off down the course. He negotiated the gates superbly, showing deft technique to go with his raw power.
Butcher won by a considerable margin from Clarke and Noah Hegge of Germany.
He said afterwards that to finish in front was "insane". "I just couldn't believe it. I'm so stoked. Just a kid from Alex on top of the world! It feels special to bring it home."
Butcher said he could feel Clarke all the way. "He's a beast, an absolute phenomenon.
"I knew I had to execute the last upstream and then it would be as good as gold. All the way down the course, the New Zealanders were running beside me, screaming. so loud - they pushed me to the end."
He said it was hard to believe he'd found himself alone in front. "When I realised that, I had a massive adrenalin dump. I looked back and realised I was actually winning this thing."
Jones, in her fifth Olympics, had targeted the kayak cross and certainly appealed as one of the strongest competitors.
She mirrored Butcher’s successes until the semi-finals, when she fractionally misjudged one gate and, though she finished second and looked to have booked a spot in the final, she was penalised and so missed out.