China’s Yuancong Xie and Taipei’s Chu-Han Chang both reaped the benefits of posting error-free runs to win slalom gold medals at the 19th Asian Games in Huangzhou on Friday.
Xie was the only paddler in the men’s C1 final to complete the course without an error, posting a finish time of 98.20. Uzbekistan’s Anvar Klevleev finished second, a two-second penalty for a gate touch pushing his time from 96.63 to 98.63.
Third place Alexandr Kulikov from Kazakhstan had two gate touches, which dropped him from second place to the bronze medal position.
In the women’s K1 Chang was again the only athlete to post an error-free run, her time of 109.51 good enough to take the gold medal. China’s Lu Li had a quicker raw time of 108.22, but a gate touch and two-second penalty dropped her to second.
Third place getter Yekaterina Tarantseva from Kazakhstan had four seconds in gate penalties, but her raw time would still only have placed her third overall.
