Exceptional performance by Nicolas Gestin in canoe slalom (C1) at the 2024 Olympics, Monday, July 29. After dominating his semi-final, the Frenchman started last in the final at the Vaires-sur-Marne venue. And to the cheers of the crowd, Nicolas Gestin was impressive in winning the gold medal under the eyes of his glorious predecessor, Tony Estanguet.
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Nicolas Gestin, 24, became Olympic canoe slalom champion in front of Tony Estanguethead of the Paris-2024 organizing committee and legend in the demanding discipline of canoe slalom. The canoeist brought the French delegation its fourth gold medal in these JO 2024The Breton, vice-champion of the 2023 C1 world championship, beat the Briton Adam Burgess (2nd) and the Slovakian Matej Benus (3rd), relegated to more than five seconds.
The hero of the day had made an impression right from the qualifying rounds, which he dominated, each time posting a clear round and the best time in both rounds. In a high-energy atmosphere reminiscent of a football stadium, Nicolas Gestin, considered one of the most powerful canoeists on the circuit, did it again on Monday in the semi-finals, relegating his closest pursuer, the Spaniard Miquel Trave, to more than three seconds.
Gestin at the height of Estanguet and Gargaud
And here we go again in the final: starting in 12th and last position for the most important round of his young career, he didn’t crack and achieved another clear round, to the great joy of the 12,000 spectators who chanted his name at length once they crossed the finish line. On the Vaires-sur-Marne pool, where he has been training since it opened in 2019, there was Gestin, who was competing in his first Olympic Games, and the others. He is the third Frenchman to win the Olympic title in C1 after Tony Estanguet (2000, 2004, 2012) and Denis Gargaud (2016).
Since slalom definitively joined the Olympic programme in 1992, France has won five of the nine men’s C1 titles.