Whitewater Canoe/Kayak Wraps Up

From the Associated Press:

Elena Kaliska of Slovakia has won the gold medal in women's single kayak slalom by nearly 15 seconds, successfully defending her top finish at Athens.

American Heather Corrie finished eighth after penalties hurt her scores on both runs.

Elena Kaliska of Slovakia won the gold medal with a score of 192.64. Australia's Jacqueline Lawrence took the silver with a 206.94, while Violetta Oblinger Peters won the bronze with a 214.77.

Kaliska led after the semifinal and dominated Friday on the whitewater course, cleanly navigating her way through the challenging rapids and snaking her way around the 21 gates.

Her combined time of 192.64 seconds was 14.3 seconds ahead of silver. Jacqueline Lawrence of Australia took that medal in 206.94. Violetta Oblinger Peters of Austria won bronze in 214.77.

Kaliska punched her first in the air and blew a kiss to the cheering crowd.

Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, capsized and was ninth.

Also Friday, Pavol and Peter Hochschorner won the gold medal in double canoe slalom, making it three straight Olympics the brothers from Slovakia have finished first.

The brothers were in second place after the semifinal, but posted the best combined time of 190.82 seconds on Friday to earn another set of whitewater medals to add to their collection from the Sydney Games and Athens.

Jaroslav Volf and Ondrej Stepanek of the Czech Republic took the silver medal, finishing 2.07 seconds behind the winners. Mikhail Kuznetsov and Dmitry Larionov of Russia won the bronze in 197.37.

The German team of Michel Felix and Sebastian Piersig led after the semifinal, but they could not recover once their canoe capsized and finished sixth.

By Tracee Hamilton  |  August 15, 2008; 5:23 AM ET  | Category:  Canoe/Kayak
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