Van Koeverden dominates kayak semis

Oakville kayaker powers through to finals in K1-500 and K1-1000 events

August 21, 2008

Jim Byers

BEIJING - Oakville's Adam Van Koeverden won his K1-500 meter kayak semifinal race today to advance to Saturday's final.

Dressed in his red and white Canada outfit topped by a grey cap he was wearing backward Van Koeverden once again overpowered the opposition and won easily to advance directly to the medal race, which will be at 3:30 a.m. Saturday EDT. He finished with a time of 1:42.438 after easing off near the finish line to save his energy for the medal races.

Second place went to Anton Ryakhov of Russia, followed by Ken Wallace of Australia, both of whom also advanced to Saturday's final.

Van Koevereden earlier this week set a world record in heats in the K1-500, racing down the course in just 1:35.554.

The resident and Canadian flagbearer at the opening ceremonies also won his race in the K1-1000 heats and advanced directly to Friday's final, which also takes place at 3:30 a.m.

The news, however, wasn't so good for Van Koeverden's buddy, Mark Oldershaw. The Burlington canoeist hoped to battle for a medal in the men's C1-500 but finished fourth in today's semifinal. Only the top three athletes advance to Saturday's final.

Also Thursday, Canadians Richard Dober and Andrew Willows advanced to the K-2 500 final by winning their semifinal in impressive style. The Canadians finished with a time of 1:31.232. The top three boats advanced to Saturday's final.

Andrew Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny mounted a dramatic finish in their semifinal, sprinting the last few metres to cross the finish line third and secure the last spot in the final. They finished with a time of 1:42.921 while the Romanian crew clocked a time of 1:42.545. The Canadians will also be competing in the C-2 1000 final.