Olmypics-Canoeing-Stunned De Gennaro says wait for gold longest 10 minutes of life

Paris 2024 Olympics - Slalom Canoe - Men's Kayak Single Victory Ceremony - Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium - Whitewater, Vaires-sur-Marne, France - August 01, 2024. Gold medallist Giovanni de Gennaro of Italy celebrates on the podium after winning with silver medallist Titouan Castryck of France and bronze medallist Pau Echaniz of Spain. /Molly Darlington

PARIS - Giovanni De Gennaro's stunning gold medal run in Thursday's single kayak slalom final brought to an end three years of misery for the Italian, who finished a disappointing 15th in Tokyo - a result that fired him up for his Paris success.

De Gennaro blasted down the tricky course in a time of 88.22 seconds and then watched as his rivals failed to beat his mark, eventually being crowned Olympic champion after Britain's Joe Clarke, the final racer of the day, could not dislodge him

"I'm in disbelief, I don't know what's happening. I'm just super happy that I have this piece of gold in my on my neck and it's just amazing," he told Reuters, still in shock at his win.

"Just an amazing day. I'm so happy my family's here and I could share this emotion with the crowd."

With the 12 finalist going in reverse order based on their performance in the semi-final earlier in the afternoon, De Gennaro found himself descending the course fifth, and when his run was complete he knew he was in with a chance of gold.

"I thought it could be ... I had a little mistake in the middle part where I lost, I think, one second in something, so I thought there was still room for someone to get in front of me. But yeah, in the end the time was enough," he said.

The ensuing wait to see if he had done enough was a tough one.

"(It was) the longest 10 minutes of my life, and maybe even more. They are all great athletes, they can all fight for the gold, so I knew there was nothing sure. I just wished I had a medal, and I have the heaviest one now so I'm super happy," he said.