Disappointment for Florence in his individual campaign
31st July 2012
David Florence’s fight to better his Beijing Olympic Silver medal in the C1 class came to end today. The world’s number one set the tenth fastest time in the semis but with just the top eight progressing through to the final, it just was not good enough.
At the Lee Valley White Water Centre the anticipation and excitement of today being the first medal winning opportunity in the canoe slalom competition was palpable. The soggy weather did not dampen the spirits of the Great British home crowd.
Today’s course was totally different from the sequence of gates set in the heats. It had increased in difficulty and was physically and technically more demanding. With six upstream gates and two downstream gates in eddies the times were slightly slower than the heats. It was imperative for paddlers to go through the first few gates clean, to then set the boat up in a good rhythm for the rest of the course.
In qualification David Florence did the business by comfortably making it through to the semi finals in fifth place and as he set off wearing bib number one as world number one, the crowd went absolutely wild.
As Florence advanced through the top section of the course he was ahead of one of the all time greats, double Olympic Champion France’s Tony Estanguet. However, Florence stalled entry into gate sixteen and then clocked up a penalty on gate eighteen, a costly mistake than resulted in a loss of momentum. Despite keeping his cool and powering to the finish, after losing his pattern he was unable to recuperate.
After his semi final run Florence lay in sixth place and had an anxious wait to see if his competitors would knock him out of the top eight and they did.
The final was a battle of the greats and it was France’s legend Estanguet that came out on top. He was determined not to make the same mistake as in Beijing, he flew down the course in master class style and produced an emphatic run time of 97.06, beating double Olympic Champion Michal Martikan. The experienced Slovak had a shaky first run, but his more confident final run was still not quick enough for the top spot and he ended up in bronze position behind Germany’s Tsardis who showed his class and consistency with a sparkling silver medal run (98.31).
Great Britain’s David Florence comments on failing to make the final,
"I am very disappointed; I just didn't go well enough. It was the race I wanted to do well in and have trained for over the past four years, it's very frustrating."
And on commenting on picking up penalties during the run,
"I didn't quite get running fast enough on the whole course. There was not one particular big mistake that really lost it for me."
It will be a disappointment for the world number one who would have expected to make it into the finals, but being the professional that he is, he will use this frustration as ammunition in the Men’s C2 semi final round battle with Richard Hounslow on Thursday.
David comments on refocusing his attention to the C2 event,
"I have no intention of bringing in any negativity into that next race. I am determined to perform to my best. I'm lucky in the way I have another chance (in the canoe double), the other guys who missed the C1 final don't have another chance."
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s racing action, we see Richard Hounslow in medal pursuit in the Men’s K1 event. Hounslow will be feeling somewhat more comfortable competing in front of a home crowd after having already raced in the Men’s K1 on Sunday and successfully qualifying through to the Men’s C2 semis with Florence on Monday.
To progress through to the finals Richard will need to beat the world number one Peter Kauzer (Slovenia). Racing starts at 13:30 with the finals at 15:15.
For the latest news on the go follow GB Canoeing on Twitter and like the GB Canoeing Facebook page.
2012 Olympic Games Men’s C1 Results
1 FRA Tony Estanguet 97.06
2 GER Sideris Tasiadis 98.09
3 SVK Michal Martikan 98.31
10 GBR David Florence 106.16