Giovanni De Gennaro of Italy won gold in the men’s kayak final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games today. 

Home favouriote Titouan Castryck claimed silver while bronze went to Pau Echaniz of Spain. 

Here are some quotes from the winners and others on day six of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Giovanni De Gennaro (Italy)

“I think this is still a dream. I don't know and I can't believe it. I just want to see my family.nIt means everything. Everybody was on my side. I had a lot of people supporting me, especially after Tokyo when I couldn't make my run. Today I'm just happy that I could be myself and, with this result, it's just a dream come true.” 

Titouan Castryck (France)

“I'm kind of disappointed honestly. I knew I was really fast, but I just made a little mistake at the bottom part of the course. I know where I lost my time, and where I lost the gold medal, so yeah, kind of disappointed. You wait your whole life for this moment, and it's just one minute and 30 seconds and after that you can't do anything. You only get to be good for that one minute and that's it. I'm really happy still with this medal around my neck, but I still feel like I missed something.”

Pau Echaniz (Spain)

“I thought I could get a gold one, but it was a bronze one. I'm really happy. I knew I could do a special run. This is a dream. I've been dreaming about this since I was six years old. When I put myself at the starting line, I kept thinking 'I was made for this'. It's something so special, I couldn't control my emotions. It's crazy.”

Joseph Clarke (Great Britain)

“It just wasn't to be today, that's canoe slalom. I think in another final, I would have definitely medalled and potentially even won. It was a good run. But people performed, and you can see that with the times and how close it was, I mean, a phenomenal final. So I can't beat myself up too much. We go again in a couple of days' time (in men's kayak cross).”

Finn Butcher (New Zealand)

“I'm pretty gutted, but at the same time I was reasonably happy with my run when I finished, as disappointing as it is not to race again and race for a medal. It's just a few millimetres, but that's what it is. That's sport. It's pretty awesome, to be honest, to be out here racing with the best in the world. It's pretty special in front of a crowd like this as well. It was always my dream as a kid and as an adult to race at the Olympics. So tick that one off the list and move forward to the cross (men's kayak cross) now I suppose."

Peter Kauzer (Slovenia)

“I'm disappointed because I wanted to finish on a high and I finished on a low. In my last Olympics, it’s sad to finish like this.”

Jiri Prskavec (Czechia)

“I had a touch on gate seven or eight, I don't remember. It kind of came out of nowhere, I was turning a spin, the gate was behind me and I slightly touched it with the end of my row, so I didn't really expect that to happen. And then I just pushed. I knew the course was easy and that the difference between the athletes is going to be super small, and as I pushed it, I touched the second gate, and then that was game over. That's how it is. Sometimes you don't have your day. And that was me today, but I'll be ready in four years.”