Eighth place? Eighth fucking place?!?!?! I know Adam Van Koeverden let up a little after he realized he wasn’t going to medal, but I could be having the same reaction if he finished fourth. There were three men who were head and shoulders above the field: Van Koeverden, Tim Brabants, and Erik Larsen, and Van Koeverden is the only one who isn’t on the podium in the K1-1000, and that’s just unacceptable. It wasn’t even a matter of getting outraced at the end; Adam just seemed slow throughout the entire race with the exception of his start that put him in second. He never moved on the leader (Brabants); he never pulled away from the people behind him (like, any of them) he never had any sort of kick at the end; he just had nothing.
Over on Battle of Alberta, I argued that regardless of injury, Kyle Shewfelt’s performance was disappointing (as opposed to say inspirational) because he was one of four marquee name athletes on the Canadian team (the other three being Brent Hayden, Alexandre Despatie and Adam Van Koeverden). In the first week we saw three of those men have disappointing results, which played a big part in the shaken confidence that ruled the “OMG We Have No Medals” crowd. If our big names couldn’t come through, who would, right? It was concerning when Hayden dropped the ball in the 100m semis, and it’s concerning when Van Koeverden, one of the most dominant athletes in any Olympic sport heading into the Games.
Seriously, if you had to pick ten medal locks based on recent performance from the entire Games (and before the Games), Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh would be number one, but Van Koeverden would have probably been in the top 10 twice, including in this event, where he hasn’t finished off the podium since he won bronze in Athens, and had gone 5-1-1 in the last two years in the K1-1000. Thankfully, the K1-500 is his better event, and he’ll be well capable of redeeming himself, though at this point anything but gold won’t be good enough.
It’s really a shame that Van Koeverden’s choke job came on the same day as Thomas Hall won bronze in the Men’s C1-1000, which is a bit of a surprise, and which is also not as newsworthy as Van Koeverden’s epic suck. That said, Hall had himself a great race, with a hell of a finishing kick. If he works on his speed, he could be a real force in the event down the line.
The last thing today is about the men’s 4×100m relay. In both sprint relays, the US teams dropped the baton in the first round, but in the men’s Great Britain was DQed as well, which means two things:
- Jamaica will win the men’s 4×100m relay, no matter what happens. They will win by a lot. Like, a lot a lot.
- Canada may actually have a chance at medalling.
“Woah, woah, woah,” you’re all saying, “I thought our sprint team sucked.” And you’re right, they do. But, beyond Jamaica, the US and Great Britain, can you think of another country with a deep bunch of sprinters? The answer is no, which means that Canada has as good of a shot as any. They don’t have an anchor with good speed, but they do have four guys used to running together and who generally run very good even speeds. There’s no reason a bronze would be out of the question, especially with the team having a solid showing in the semis.
