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Brabants: Successful start to Olympic campaign
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Tim Brabants qualified in his first heat for the semi-finals of the men's K1 500m as did Lucy Wainright in the women's K1 500m, a perfect start to the 2008 Olympic Games Kayak flatwater competition for Team GB.
Competitng in his third Olympic games, having won bronze at Sydney 2000 in the K1 1000M, Brabants exploded through to the final of the K1 1000on Monday by overhauling Russia's Anton Ryakhov and Stepan Janic of Croatia in the final stages.
Unlike in the K1 1000 the 31-year-old had to recover from being behind at the 250m mark in the K1 500m. Yet he responded quickly to surge aheasd and win in 1.36.388.
"It wasn't comfortable, but it never is," he said.
"There's a lot of good guys out there. It's the Olympic Games, it's tough.
"The 500m is a good event for me, I'm still learning how to race it really. It is quite different to the 100m, I have to attack it differently.
"The 500m is always going to be a tough one. You've just got to hold your head together and not push too hard and that I did. I kept a long stroke and picked it up at the end.
"I thought I might be the only person in with a chance to win two medals, but then you look at the size of others out there. Everyone is doing it now," the doctor said.
Panic
Great Britain's Lucy Wainright came third in her heat after a sluggish start to take her through to the women's K1 500m semi-finals.
"I wouldn't have carried on if I didn't think I could do better. I'm feeling better now than ever," said Wainwright, who finished seventh in Athens.
"I had a terrible start but once I got going I got into my rhythm well and
tried not to panic and came through.
"It was possibly nerves. We've been waiting a long time for this and it was
good to get this one out of the way. I'm pleased with that performance."
As the race progressed Wainwright came on strongly to push through the field
and finish beyond Italy's Josefa Idem and Chinese favourite Hongyan Zhong.
