Rowers Alexey Korovashkov and Zakhar Petrov were expected to win gold or at least a medal at the Paris Games in the canoe doubles. But the Russian rowers failed the last meters of the distance and were left outside the Olympic podium. Sport tells about one of the most disappointing defeats for Russian athletes at the 2024 Olympics.
Career topsy-turvy After winning bronze at the London Games, 32-year-old Korovashkov missed two Olympics. In Rio de Janeiro, where only gold was expected of him, he was not invited as a result of Richard McLaren's report. It was never possible to prove the Russian’s guilt: Korovashkov was acquitted, but he had already missed the tournament in Brazil. Then there was the strange story of a failed doping test.
The five-time world champion, apparently, was himself surprised by the discovery of traces of EPO in his tests. He insisted on opening the B sample. But it confirmed the presence of the banned substance. The result was a four-year disqualification, which included the Tokyo Olympics. After returning, Korovashkov again broke into the world elite and, together with Ivan Shtyl, won an Olympic license, later receiving admission from the IOC. But 17-time world champion Shtyl was left out of the Games.
Zakhar Petrov was urgently paired with Korovashkov. The beginning of the adult career of this 22-year-old canoeist coincided with the period of the Russians' suspension from international competitions. But at domestic competitions, he quickly established himself as the future leader of the national team. And after being admitted to the World Cup, he won gold and two bronzes at individual stages.
Already following the results of the qualifying competitions in Paris, it became clear that Korovashkov and Petrov had managed to work well together in the shortest possible time. At the same time, they row on the same side of the canoe, and many expressed concerns that this could negatively affect the result of the pair. As it turned out. Although in their first run, the Russians not only showed the first result, but also did it with the best Olympic time, which had stood for 20 years.
Finishing failureIn the semi-final race, which took place on Thursday, they again became the first. To reach the final, it was necessary to finish in the top four, but Korovashkov and Petrov did not «save money». It seemed that the Russians even had a good reserve. But this feeling turned out to be dangerously deceptive.
If 12 years ago in London Korovashkov and Ilya Pervukhin failed to start, then in Paris the final race of the canoe-twos for 500 meters began quite successfully for Korovashkov and Petrov. They secured second place, losing only to the Chinese Liu Hao and Ji Bowen. They maintained this position almost until the finish, but the last few dozen distances were disastrous for the Russian rowers. The result was only fourth place.
«The final was incredible, we were in second place and lost by nine hundredths! Photo finish. It's incredibly disappointing. But the guys are great guys. Let's applaud. This is a real fight between equal opponents. Guys, our hearts are with you. You fought like lions,» said famous commentator Dmitry Guberniev on his Telegram channel.
The gold went to the Chinese, the silver medalists were the Italians Gaiuriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchini, and the bronze medalists were Joan Antoni Moreno and Diego Dominguez.
«»****** (Holy shit). It's a shame. The wind was on the right, and we were both rowing on the left. It was hard to steer. We had to miss a stroke to keep the boat. Otherwise, we would have been disqualified for being in the wrong lane. We were unlucky with the weather,» said Korovashkov, whose words are quoted by Sport24.
Thus, Petrov has the last chance for a second Russian Olympic medal. The canoeist has qualified for the semi-finals of the 1000m canoe singles competition (to be held on August 9). This event will be the final one on Friday for the 15 Russians who decided to participate in the Games as neutrals.