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Czech Republic's Prskavek adds kayak slalom gold to trophy case

Posted at 3:36 AM, Jul 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-30 05:01:17-04

World champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Jiri Prskavek of the Czech Republic completed his set of accomplishments Friday with a gold medal in the men's kayak slalom.

Paddling last on the challenging course, Prskavek was comfortably ahead of his rivals at the two splits and finished in 91.63 seconds, 3.22 seconds ahead of Slovakia's Jakub Grigar.

American Michael Smolen, the eighth of the 10 athletes to take the course, had a better time at the second split than Grigar and bronze medalist Hannes Aigner of Germany but lost speed in the bottom third of the course and showed his frustration soon after crossing the finish line in fourth place with two paddlers left.

The competition was the last of the canoe and kayak slalom events in the Olympics. Germany earned a medal in all four events, including a gold for Ricarda Funk in women's kayak. The Czech Republic took two, as did Australia's Jessica Fox. Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Great Britain took the other medals.