Larsen comes from behind to take canoeing gold

Norway's Eirik Veras larsen celebrates after winning the gold medal for the men's kayak single 1000m in Eton Dorney at the 2012 Summer Olympics on August 8, 2012.

Norway’s Eirik Veras Larsen came from behind to grab the first Olympic canoeing sprint medal on Wednesday at the London Games.

Larsen won the K1 1,000-metre race in 3 minutes 26.462 seconds to beat Adam van Koeverden by 0.708 seconds. The Canadian was lying first at the 750m mark, but could do little as Larsen finished strongly.

Germany’s Max Hoff, who was lying outside the medal positions with 200m to go also managed a strong finish to snatch the bronze medal.

Larsen won the same event at the Athens Games in 2004 and captured silver in Beijing four years later.

Three further canoeing medal races were to be held at Eton Dorney on Wednesday morning.