Norway's Larsen wins Olympic canoeing gold

By STEVE DOUGLAS,

Updated August 8, 2012

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson, Pool)

WINDSOR, England (AP) Norwegian canoer Eirik Veras Larsen reclaimed the Olympic title in the men's 1,000-meter K-1 on Wednesday, overhauling Adam van Koeverden of Canada in a tight finish to win his country's first gold of the London Games.

Larsen, who won 2004 gold in Athens, crossed in a time of 3 minutes, 26.462 seconds - more than a half-length ahead of Van Koeverden. Max Hoff of Germany won bronze at Dorney Lake.

Van Koeverden, a former gold medalist in the K-1 500, qualified quickest and was looking to make up for his surprise eighth-place finish in the 1,000 in Beijing four years ago, after which he apologized to his country.

He started quickly and led through the 750-meter marker but was reeled in by the 36-year-old Larsen, who was the oldest competitor in the eight-man race.

Larsen also won silver in the event at the Beijing Games in 2008 and had showed some good form this year by making the podium in World Cup events in Duisburg and Poznan.

It was Van Koeverden's fourth medal, rubber-stamping his status as one of Canada's top performers in the Summer Olympics.

Hoff has dominated the event since the Beijing Games, winning three European titles and two world championships, but made a poor start in the final. He was fifth almost the whole race but finished powerfully to overtake Denmark's Rene Poulsen and Sweden's Anders Gustafsson in the last 150 meters.