Another medal is just what the doctor ordered

(GETTY IMAGES)

Britain's Tim Brabants claimed his second medal of the Beijing Games by taking bronze in a photo-finish in the men's K1 500m final yesterday.

The 31-year-old, who won gold in the K1 1,000m on Friday, finished just behind Australia's Ken Wallace and Adam van Koeverden of Canada. Only four 10ths of a second separated the three medallists as Wallace took gold with a powerful finish.

In the women's 500m, Britain's Lucy Wainwright came seventh in a race won by Inna Osypenko-Radomska. The Ukrainian just came home ahead of the 43-year-old Italian Josefa Idem, who adds to the silver she won in Athens and the gold she collected in Sydney. Germany's Katrin Wagner-Ausgustin won bronze.

Wainwright, 30, could not fully recover after a poor start and ended up in the same position she managed in Athens.

In the men's race, Van Koeverden made the early running but Wallace reeled him in with just 100m to go. Brabants, who won Britain's first canoeing gold medal when he stormed to victory in the 1,000m, has only started competing in the 500m recently but the doctor did win gold in the event at the European Championships last year.

"When you cross the line you don't know where you are, I am not looking across and just giving it everything down that last 200m," he said. "It would have been great to have done the double but coming into the race I was more jaded and these guys are world-class athletes.

"I had no idea whether I was first, second or ninth until I crossed the line and looked across, I had no idea where I finished. I looked at the board and it said I was silver then it dropped me down to bronze.

"But I have to be happy. I came out to these Olympics with the hope of getting two medals – one of them gold – and that is what I have done. It has been fantastic. I feel very lucky to be here."