The kayak duo of Bence Nádas and Sándor Tótka won a silver medal in the 500 meters at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Nádas, the world and European champion in this event, and Tótka, the gold medalist in the K-1,200 at the Tokyo Olympics, advanced from the middle race as second. The Hungarian unit, the recent winner of the European Championship, had a good start in the final, they were third behind the Germans and the Australians at half the distance, but dictated a tremendous pace in the second half of the distance and finally finished in second place behind the German duo of Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke and the three last year in the same number, but in 1000 meters ahead of the winner Jean van der Westhuyzen and the Australian duo Tom Green.
The members of the Hungarian pair may have been fueled by the desire to prove themselves, because the four fell short of expectations and only finished seventh a day earlier.
Accordingly, they competed extremely determinedly and with great dedication and won the second place in a huge battle. Tótka won her second Olympic medal in the K-1 200 meters in Tokyo, while Nádas - who wept with joy after reaching the finish line - can stand on the podium for the first time in his career at the pentathlon games.
Bálint Kopasz and Ádám Varga, who got together shortly before the Olympics, reached the B final and finished in seventh place, making them 15th overall.
The main task of the two classic competitors will come on Saturday, when they will compete as gold and silver medalists of the Tokyo Olympics in the 1000 meters individual.
The pair of Nádas and Tótka won the 90th Olympic medal in the Hungarian kayak-canoe sport, and also won the 14th place on the podium of the Hungarian delegation at the Paris Olympics.
MTI
