The Canadian K-4500m team, formed by Pierre-Luc Poulin, Laurent Lavigne, Nicholas Matveev and Simon McTavish, ended in the semi-finals on Thursday at the Olympic pool in Vaires-sur-Marne.
Fifth at the halfway point, already half a second behind the Ukrainians who were fourth, the Canadians had a better second half of the race, but not enough to make up the deficit. The Canadian boat stopped the clock at 1 min 20.70 s, 3 hundredths of a second behind Ukraine and a ticket to the final.
Australia was the fastest with an Olympic best time of 1 min 19.22 sec.
Pierre-Luc Poulin had taken the blow when answering journalists’ questions.
“It’s short by 3 hundredths, but it’s okay! We had a very good race and we gave everything we had this week. For the moment, I have nothing to say about this race, other than that it was short by 3 hundredths. I don’t see any mistakes and we just have to realize that we are at the Olympic Games and these are the 11 best boats in the world,” admitted the 28-year-old veteran.
“We just have to be happy with the journey we’ve made together and keep these moments as memories for the future.”
Lavigne, for his part, was more shaken, especially since this premature elimination puts an end to his first Games.
The Canadian boat finished tenth in Tokyo with the same crew, except for Mark de Jonge who retired. Lavigne replaced him in international events in recent years.
“The last 100 meters, we are flat, we have nothing left and sometimes, the synchronism can suffer a little. […] The goal is not to catch up (with the others) at the end, it’s to keep your place. I’m super proud of myself and my team. We had some great races, but it’s definitely disappointing when it ends up shorter than we wanted. I wanted to get back on the water and row in the final,” admitted the Trois-Rivières athlete.
In the heat of the moment, the 23-year-old rookie didn’t know what he could take away from his Olympic races.
More experienced, Poulin was already beginning to get his head around this subject.
“This race is the result of 20 years of preparation and love for kayaking. That’s what I’m going into today (Thursday) with rather than saying that we missed the final by 3 hundredths of a second. […] We knew we had a big second half of the race in us and we had to have confidence in that, because it wouldn’t happen for many. That’s what was written in history today.”
Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish will be in the semi-finals of the K-2500m on Friday.