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Great Britain’s Joe Clarke said he would not blame himself for failing to regain his Olympic men’s K1 single title at Paris 2024.
Clarke looked unbeatable when qualifying fastest for the 12-man canoe slalom final at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course.
But the 31-year-old Stoke-on-Trent paddler – K1 gold medallist at Rio de Janeiro eight years ago – could do no better than fifth in a final won by Italy’s Giovanni de Gennaro in an impressive time of 88.22 seconds.
“It was a very fast final,” said Clarke, the last man down the 300-metre course as the fastest qualifier in the semi-final.
“I don’t think I did too much wrong, just a couple of mistakes.
“I got slightly stuck at six, seven, eight, and that’s the difference between the podium and not tonight.
“It was an immense final, the time differences were so finite. It’s hard to beat yourself up when it is so close.
I didn't crumble under the pressure, I kept a clean run. It's hard to try and digest really— Team GB canoeist Joe Clarke
“I didn’t crumble under the pressure, I kept a clean run. It’s hard to try and digest really.”
De Gennaro’s gold-medal run was 0.20 seconds better than France’s Titouan Castryck, who was willed down the course by a fervent home crowd.
Spain’s Pau Echaniz took bronze, nearly a second ahead of Clarke.
“I knew it was a good run (to win),” said Clarke. “But I’m probably capable of doing that myself given another run.
“If we re-run the final I think my run would have potentially won.
“It’s that kind of course, pretty tricky, a few minor tweaks here and there. A bit better water here and there would have made all the difference.
“But you get one run, unfortunately, and that’s that today.”
Clarke, who was not selected for Tokyo 2020, still has another chance to medal in the new kayak cross event.
He said: “Fifth place is not what I came for – and it’s definitely added coal to the fire for next week.”
