Olympic Canoeing 2016: Saturday Sprint Medal Winners, Order, Times and Results

Liam Heath justified his favourite's status by taking gold in the men's canoeing sprint kayak single 200-metre final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. The Team GB man produced a typically late sprint to power over the line ahead of the rest of the field.

German pair Sebastian Brendel and Jan Vandrey were just as dominant in the men's double 1000-metre final. Like Heath, Brendel and Vandrey relied on leaving it late to see off rivals and claim gold.

Hungary were also big winners on the day as the nation retained its Olympic title in the women's K4 500-metre final. Finally, Germany took a second team gold when the men's crew powered way ahead of the competition in the K4 1000-metres.

Here are the medal winners from Saturday's four races:

Race	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's Kayak Single 200-metre final	Liam Heath (GBR)	Maxime Beaumont (FRA)	Saule Craviotto (ESP) and Ronald Rauhe (GER)
Men's Canoe Double 1000-metre final	Sebastian Brendel and Jan Vandrey (GER)	Erlon Silva and Isaquias Queiroz dos Santoa (BRA)	Dmytro Ianchuk and Taras Mishchuk (UKR)
Women's Kayak Four 500-metre final	Hungary	Germany	Belarus
Men's Kayak Four 1000-metre final	Germany	Slovakia	Czech Republic

Recap

Heath made a poor start in the men's kayak single 200-metre final. It left him needing a late surge to catch Frenchman Maxime Beaumont.

Sensationally, Heath found the late surge he needed over the final stretch. It also helped that Beaumont had begun to fade.

That's a fatal flaw against Heath, a paddler who specialises in late finishes. BBC Sport detailed exactly how much ground Heath had to make up to secure gold:

He's found a formula that has led him to great success at these Games:

There was some controversy in the rest of the medal picture. Beaumont had comfortably secured silver, but there was no separating the photo finish between Spaniard Saul Craviotto and Germany's Ronald Rauhe, both of whom were awarded bronze.

Another strong finish decided gold in the double 1000-metre men's final. The medal went to German crew Brendel and Vandrey.

It was delight for Germany, but major disappointment for host nation Brazil. Erlon Silva and Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos led for the majority of the race, but they couldn't quite paddle clear of the powerful Brendel.

Andre Penner/Associated Press

The women's kayak four 500-metre final soon became a two-boat race, with Germany and Hungary vying for gold at the front. It was the pace of paddling that eventually took the latter nation to the big prize.

The Hungarians timed their decisive sprint well to leave Germany frustrated and retain their Olympic title. It was a controlled paddle from the four-woman crew, who kept the stroke rate consistent.

Meanwhile, Team GB slipped to seventh despite a solid start in a race loaded with top performers. The team's official social media count relayed their finishing time:

Germany's men sought to make amends in the K4 1000-metre final. They got off to a great start, leading out of the pack almost a third of a boat length in front of nearest rivals Slovakia.

The advantage started to increase as the German crew put a lot of intensity into the early portion of the race. Such was the power and pace of their start that dropping back became a legitimate concern.

Yet, if anything, Germany became stronger and pushed toward the line with efficiency, symmetry and precision from the boat. In the end, it was a conclusive sail to a second gold.