Nevin Harrison saved her tears for the finish line, where they came pouring out over a golden smile.
The American teenager made women's Olympic history on Thursday when she surged over the back half of the first canoe 200 sprint final to overtake Laurence Vincent Lapointe of Canada for the gold medal. The Olympics added the event at the Tokyo Games as part of a push for gender equity.
“It’s exciting to be part of history, to see how awesome we all were," Harrison said. “I knew it was going to be the hardest race of my life. It's the Olympics, and that’s what it all about.”
The 19-year-old from Seattle who will soon start college at San Diego State is the first American woman to win a canoe sprint gold medal, and the first to win any kind of medal since 1964.
She is the first athlete who trains at the Lake Lanier Olympic Venue to win an Olympic medal.
Harrison burst into tears after the finish and held her hand to her mouth before paddling to the dock. She fought back tears again during the medal ceremony, then cradled the gold next to her cheek.
She had been known to cry before races earlier in her career as part of a pressure release method. That didn't happen this time, and she had all the energy and composure needed to rally from Vincent Lapointe's early lead. Harrison not only won, she beat one of greatest canoe paddlers in history.
Vincent Lapointe had been the standard-bearer in the event with six world championships since 2010, and she had lobbied hard to get the race into the Olympics. The Tokyo Games was the first time the two best paddlers in the world had met on the water.
They raced practically side-by-side. Vincent Lapointe was in Lane 2 and Harrison in Lane 4. Harrison paddles on the right side of her canoe. Vincent Lapointe favors the left.
And quickly in front, they could see each other the entire race.
“I grew up watching her and hoping to one day be at that level,” Harrison said. “They say your idols eventually become your rivals.”
Harrison won the 2019 world championship at age 17 when Vincent Lapointe was serving a provisional doping suspension that was later overturned. After the layoff from international competition, Lapointe surprisingly didn’t qualify for the canoe 200 at the Olympic trials.
Canada put her on the team anyway and entered her in a kayak event she doesn’t race. She then switched to her specialty race.
The Canadian’s quick start suggested a strategy to break the young American early. Harrison stayed patient, and her sheer power and steady but furious stroke rallied her to the lead by the halfway point. Harrison was too strong to catch and won by half a canoe length.
Liudmyla Luzan of Ukraine finished third for bronze.
“I’m so relieved. It hit me on the podium that I’ve done it,” Lapointe said. “I might not have won a gold, but this silver tastes amazing.”
