TOKYO JAPAN (Thursday August 5, 2021) – Laurence Vincent Lapointe paddles to a silver medal (46.786) in the historic C1 200m Olympic event behind gold medalist Nevin Harrison of USA (45.932). Ukraine’s Luidmyla Luzan came across the line in bronze medal position (47.034). Canada’s Katie Vincent (Mississauga Canoe Club) finished eighth in the tight race in a time of 47.834.
Silver for Vincent Lapointe (Trois-Rivières Canoe-Kayak Club) marks the first medal for Canada in the women’s sprint program since Caroline Brunet won bronze in 2004.
“I’m super proud of what I did today. It is so relieving and exciting. After all that I have been through, I did it!” said Vincent Lapointe. “The Olympic Games is the peak event. I didn’t get gold but I did the best performance I could and I pushed until the end!”
Teammate Katie Vincent raced in lane 7 in the finals today. “I am proud of Laurence and hope we can keep this momentum into the C2 event. The biggest challenge will be the wind and I think that’s what got me a bit today but there are no excuses and no regrets. I am going to stay focused and not let anything stop us from doing our best.”
Nick Matveev (Balmy Beach Canoe Club) rounded out his K1 200m event finishing 6th in the B Final.
Michelle Russell (Cheema Aquatic Club) finished 7th in the highly competitive K1 500m semifinals, and did not progress to the finals.
Brian Malfesi (Ridge Canoe and Kayak Club) and Vincent Jourdenais (Club de canoe-kayak de vitesse de Trois-Rivieres) battled hard once again in the B Final finishing 6th in the MK 1000m event.
Tomorrow, we will tune into heats and quarterfinals for WC2 500m, MC1 1000m, WK4 500m, and MK4 500m.
Tune in live at CBC Olympics Live – schedule below.
More information on the canoe and kayak sprint events can be found on the Tokyo 2020 website here.
About Canoe Kayak Canada
Canoe Kayak Canada is the national governing body for competitive paddling in Canada, one of Canada’s top performing summer sports with a total of 24 Olympic medals, and a leader in the Paralympic movement. Canoe Kayak Canada is a member-based organization that includes an intricate network of clubs as well as provincial, territorial and divisional paddling associations. Elite National Team athletes proudly represent Canada at various competitions around the globe – most notably the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Pan American Games, ICF World Cups as well as Junior, Under 23 and Senior World Championships.