Adam Burgess clinched his inaugural Olympic medal, taking home the silver in canoe slalom singles at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris.
The paddler from Stoke-on-Trent, who finished fourth-fastest in the semi-finals, delivered an impressive performance, though he had a slight mishap at upstream gate 17. Nevertheless, he rebounded well at the bottom of the course, finishing in 96.84 seconds and setting the fastest run of the final with three competitors still to race.
Burgess was still in the lead for the gold medal when local favorite Nicolas Gestin, the world silver medallist, delivered his best run for last. Gestin shattered Burgess’s leading time with a remarkable 91.36 seconds, finishing 5.48 seconds faster than the runner-up, while Matej Benus from Slovakia secured the final podium spot.
For the 32-year-old Burgess, this silver medal was a form of redemption, as he had finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics three years prior, missing a medal by just 0.16 seconds.
“I won’t be waking up in the night, pondering what could have been,” Burgess reflected. “I aimed to give it my all today.
“I’ve lost chances by being overly cautious at times, but today I wanted to paddle with confidence and style, enjoy the moment, and it paid off.”
“I tried not to dwell on Tokyo too much. It was a significant part of my journey to earn my place in Paris. However, I wanted this event to be its own narrative. Every race unfolds differently, and I didn’t want that weighing on my mind. I focused on being present.”
Burgess was stunned when he realized he was assured a medal once Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis, who had narrowly beaten him for bronze in Tokyo, failed to secure a podium finish with his time of 97.27 seconds. It then became a question of which color medal he would receive. Ultimately, Gestin took gold, igniting an already spirited home crowd, who cheered enthusiastically as their athlete crossed the finish line with an outstanding championship performance.
