12 years later, Martikán's comeback C1 gold

Updated: 2008-08-12 19:28:45

Michal Martikán wins it again! (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 12) -- After winning the gold in 1996 but coming in second at the next two Olympics, Michal Martikán of Slovakia recaptured first place in the Men's Slalom Canoe Single competition on August 12, finishing first in both the semifinal and final races with a combined total time of 176.65 seconds.

Martikán got a two-second penalty in both of his races, but his finishing times of 86.92 seconds in the semifinal run and 85.73 in the final run were enough to clinch the gold, even after a total of four penalty seconds were added.

The medalists: David Florence (left), Michal Martikán (middle), Robin Bell (right) (Photo credit: Getty Images)

David Florence of Great Britain took the silver with a combined time of 178.61 seconds, 1.96 seconds behind Martikán's total time. He only had one two-second penalty, in his semifinal run where he finished fourth overall.

Robin Bell of Australia came in at 180.59 seconds for the bronze, also coming back from a lower ranking of fifth in the semifinal where he got a two-second penalty.

French paddler Tony Estanguet, who was on a quest for his third consecutive gold medal, finished ninth in the semifinal with a time of 93.92 seconds, 5.00 full seconds behind first place Martikán. After taking the gold over Martikán in two consecutive Olympics, Estanguet did not even advance to the final in Beijing.

Michal Martikán in the final (Photo credit: Getty Images)

In the semifinal run, the Czech Republic's Stanislav Ježek passed the finish line 0.93 seconds behind Martikán for a time of 89.85 seconds and second place, while the semifinal's third place slot went to Krzysztof Bieryt of Poland with 90.08 seconds. Both of these paddlers had no penalties added to their semifinal times, but Ježek got four penalty seconds in the final, and Bieryt had two penalty seconds. Czech paddler Ježek ended up with 92.44 seconds in his final run, moving him to sixth place, and Poland's Bieryt with 110.13 seconds came in eighth in the final and last in the total ranking.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's Florence finished the final run in 88.15 seconds and Australian Bell behind him with 89.43 seconds, moving them up to the medal spots. Both incurred no penalty seconds in the final.

While all the other paddlers' rankings switched between the semifinal and final races, only Martikán retained his first place spot in both runs, definitively taking the gold.