Double Bronze Medal for Balearic Canoeing

Great news for Balearic paddlers and the Spanish delegation at the Paris 2024 Olympics thanks to a day that will be remembered for the two medals won by the K4 of Mallorcan Marcus Cooper and the C2 of Joan Toni Moreno from Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença.

It was a day when three finals were contested, and Spain climbed the podium in two of them. The first, the men's C2 500, featured Joan Antoni Moreno from Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença and Diego Domínguez. The Mallorcan and the Madrid native qualified in the morning in a finely scheduled semifinal. They knew that a fourth place in their heat would leave them on the outside lane for the final under the best conditions.

In the final, only the Chinese pair managed a comfortable lead at the finish (1:39.48). At the finish buoys, the final sprint was won by the Italians Tachinni and Casadei, who took silver (1:41.08), while the Spaniards earned a well-deserved bronze (1:41.18), leaving the Russian pair of Petrov and Korovashkov, who were podium favorites, in fourth place (1:41.27).

As significant as the C2 500 medal was, the final in the men's K4 500 was equally momentous. It was a huge challenge for the Spanish quartet, which includes Mallorcan paddler Marcus Cooper. After winning silver in Tokyo 2020, the world championship title in 2022, and the European championship in 2023, they had to confirm their position in the world rankings. They entered the final with the intention of giving it their all from the first stroke, and the lead they gained at the 250-meter mark was decisive at the finish.

There, they were only beaten by the Germans (1:19.80) and a surprising Australian team who took the second step on the podium (1:19.84), while Craviotto, Arévalo, Cooper, and Germade added another bronze to the Spanish tally (1:20.05).

Mallorcan Marcus Cooper will try to enlarge his trophy cabinet this Friday in the K2 500 with his partner Adrián del Río.

This last medal of the day also means that Saúl Craviotto becomes the greatest Olympic athlete in the history of our country. Before the Paris event, he was tied at five medals with David Cal, but this bronze brings the man from Lleida to two golds (Beijing and Rio), two silvers (London and Tokyo), and two bronzes (Rio and Paris), titles that solidify Saúl as a legend of Spanish sport and mark medals at an Olympic event, consecutively, since Beijing 2008.